GOODNEWSLETTER
Number 481 ORDINANCES
July 10, 2013
A CHURCH IS KNOWN BY HER DOCTRINAL ORDINANCES
"For we are His workmanship, CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS for good works, which
God hath prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them," Ephesians 2:10.
All of God's work begins with His Son, Jesus Christ. And, the work of Christ is how are saved; even continual. every saved person is "called out." Each saved person is to learn what the Father did in His Son; in order to know how Jesus blesses and redeemed us. Ephesians 2 spells it out for so that we get the message, clearly. "God ...because of His great love ...even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive with Christ...in order that in the ages to come He might show surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Vs, 4-7). Then, the well known verses that tell of salvation in Ephesians 2:8-9: "For be grace are ye saved..." etc...
Every saved person then has to be baptized and join a New Testament Church. We believe that they are only TWO PICTORIAL ORDINANCES within the church that was established by Jesus. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the two ordinances. But, and this is very important, the two pictorial ordinances are just that; that is, they only PICTURE what Christ has done and who He is. One cannot be saved by baptism; nor, can one be saved by eating the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. They are pictures of Christ's work in or on our behalf, we say again. One pictures Christ, who died for us by shedding His blood. The other ordinance pictures a burial. When we go back to the Old Testament, we see other pictures, too. The Lamb was killed on the day of atonement. The nation moved out and all were baptized in the Red Sea.