Points & Verses
Acts 2:37-47
1 Cor. 11:26
1. THREE GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Jesus gave His church a pattern of doctrine & practice.
Matt. 28:18-20
The apostles put this pattern into place.
Acts 2:41-42, 47b
We must obey Christ & His apostles.

2. THREE SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS
Believers must be baptized.
Believers must join a church.
Heb. 13:17
Believers must partake of the Lord's Supper.

3. THREE UNIVERSAL INVITATIONS
Believe in Jesus Christ.
Rom. 10:13
Confess Him in baptism.
Join His church at the Table.

Church Family and Friends,

As I mentioned yesterday at the end of this sermon, I am providing you a few web links below to help give further explanation concerning the subjects of baptism, membership, and the Lord's Supper. These help explain why we should hold these closely together within the church and not have them be disconnected. I hope they will be helpful to you.

May you take the time to prayerfully consider (1) what was said in the sermon yesterday, (2) the information contained in the two booklets that were distributed (Understanding Baptism and Understanding the Lord's Supper), and (3) the information conveyed in these links. After due consideration of these, if there are still questions or concerns swirling around in your heart and mind, Marvin and I would be delighted to visit with you to talk and pray together about these things.

May our Lord richly bless you, and may He give us all wisdom as we seek to live in accordance with His Word.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eC2nkz_y38 - Todd Friel (as only Todd Friel can do it in his "memorable" way) succinctly summarizes key points of what 9Marks Ministries has written concerning the Lord's Supper and church membership.

www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=quQRDtwQEkI - This is a good, detailed conversation concerning the nature of a local church, baptism, membership, and the Lord's Supper.

www.crossway.org/articles/4-questions-about-the-lords-supper/

www.brackenhurstbaptist.co.za/a-meal-for-members-only

www.bulletininserts.org/may-i-participate-in-the-lords-supper/ - This is a good summary of the main points of conversion, baptism, membership, and the Lord's Supper by noted Bible teacher Jim Elliff.

www.opc.org/qa.html?question_id=437 - Just a word of explanation about this link and the following one: This brief article is written from a Presbyterian perspective. Though, as Baptists, we have differences concerning baptism, I include this to show that our Presbyterian brothers and sisters in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC, of which I would consider the most biblically faithful Presbyterian denomination) also consider one to be a member of the local through baptism and hold the Lord's Supper to be a family meal to be taken only by those known and recognized to be a member of the visible local church.

www.christianstudylibrary.org/article/church-membership-and-participation-lords-supper - Another example from our Presbyterian brothers and sisters in the OPC. The article on this website is excerpted from the OPC's official publication, New Horizons. To reiterate, though we would have substantial differences concerning the nature, proper recipients, and mode of baptism, we nevertheless are together when it comes to holding baptism, membership, and the Lord's Supper together.