The New Testament Church

The New Testament Church The Temple of God

A Place Where God Meets Those Who Worship Him • In the Old Testament: • In the Tabernacle • “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.” {Exodus 25:8,9}

A Place Where God Meets Those Who Worship Him • In the Old Testament: • In the Tabernacle • “I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.” {Leviticus 26:11,12}

A Place Where God Meets Those Who Worship Him • In the Old Testament: • In the Tabernacle • “But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.” {Deuteronomy 12:5}

A Place Where God Meets Those Who Worship Him • In the Old Testament: • Temple built by Solomon • “Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” {2 Chronicles 7:15,16}

A Place Where God Meets Those Who Worship Him • In the Old Testament: • God’s name recorded there. • “An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.” {Exodus 20:24}

A Place Where God Meets Those Who Worship Him • In the New Testament: • God’s name recorded in the church. • “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” {Matthew 18:20} • “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” {Revelation 2:13}

A Place Where God Meets Those Who Worship Him • In the New Testament: • God’s name is the authority in the church. • “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” {Colossians 3:17}

A Spiritual Building in Which the Spirit of God Dwells • We are God’s field. • “For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building.” {1 Corinthians 3:9}

A Spiritual Building in Which the Spirit of God Dwells • Temple of God—where the Spirit dwells. • “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}

A Spiritual Building in Which the Spirit of God Dwells • The chief cornerstone—Jesus Christ. • “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}

Must Be built According to God’s Plan • God’s plan. • “And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” {Exodus 25:40} • “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}

Must Be built According to God’s Plan • God’s plan. • “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” {1 Corinthians 3:11} • “… 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 8:5}

Must Be built According to God’s Plan • God’s plan for the New Testament Church is found in the Scriptures. • “How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” {1 Corinthians 14:26} • “Let all things be done decently and in order.” {1 Corinthians 14:40}

Christ and the Apostles the Foundation • Tried and precious stone. • “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily. Also I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters will overflow the hiding place.” {Isaiah 28:16,17}

Christ and the Apostles the Foundation • True foundation. • “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. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” {1 Corinthians 3:10,11}

Christ and the Apostles the Foundation • Christ, apostles and prophets. • “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.” {Ephesians 2:20}

Christians the Stones Built Together into the Temple of God • Fellow citizens. • “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}

Christians the Stones Built Together into the Temple of God • Living Stones. • “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” {1 Peter 2:5,6}

Christians the Stones Built Together into the Temple of God • Chosen generation—royal priesthood. • “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” {1 Peter 2:9,10}

Christians the Stones Built Together into the Temple of God • Unbelievers and disobedient cannot be stones. • “Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone, and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” {1 Peter 2:7,8}

Christians the Stones Built Together into the Temple of God • Strength of the building depends upon the stones being securely cemented and built together in peace and love. • “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” {Ephesians 4:1-3}

The New Testament Church