One Right Church

This encore episode is one of our favorites. Mark’s wife, Cindy, joins us to share part of her story. Years after having nothing to do with her dad, she experiences a glorious reconciliation with him. Reconciliation and forgiveness are always possible. There is always hope that relationships can be healed!

We received historical documents from the Followers of Christ Church, including notes from the 1937 Conference. We talked about this in the last episode. One of the lines in those documents called the church "The Ark of Safety." If you are in the Ark, that is the church, you are saved. In this episode, we discuss how believing you are in the ark gives a false sense of security. We talk about the recent tragic death of a young man. More than anything, we want to urge you to find Jesus to be the Ark of your Safety, not any church. Only Jesus saves.

We were given some notes from the 1937 conference of the Followers of Christ. It outlines some of the topics the delegation will discuss. What they talked about set the tone for the next 90 years! The general principle is that whether we like it or not, people follow in our footsteps. The footsteps left in 1937 lead in a direction. The root grows fruit. Here is a picture of the agenda.

This is the third in a mini-series about marks of a church. These characteristics of a church should mark the One Right Church. The true church should share traits in common with other churches that have historically followed Jesus. Throughout this series, we've tried to highlight a few of them. Today the focus is on church discipline, discipleship, and elder leadership. We hope you find this episode helpful.

Certain things mark a true church and distinguish it from something else. This is important. It will help you know if you are truly in the one right church. In this episode, we take a quick look at evangelism, ordinances, and church membership. I hope this helps you understand what a church should be doing.

What kinds of things are marks of a true church? This should be a matter of first importance if you think you are in the one right church. In the next three episodes, we will examine the agreed-upon marks of a church. This time we take a quick look at preaching, theology, the gospel, and conversion. I hope this helps you understand what a church is for.

The character of the One Right Church should be evident from the Bible. The New Testament contains pictures of the church that show us its relationships and flavor. Each picture displays a slightly different facet of the beautiful church. The single distinctive feature of the One Right Church is its relationship to Jesus. The picture may be of a bride and a bridegroom, or a shepherd and his sheep, or a head and the body, but all of them show the indispensable and precious relationship of Jesus to his Church. We hope this episode helps you see Jesus in relation to the Church.

The origin story of the One Right Church is an important matter. How the church starts will shape what it becomes. That is the topic of this episode. How the church got started in the book of Acts tells us what kind of institution it is. We hope this discussion of the beginning of the church will help you distinguish between the One Right Church and the real church of Jesus Christ.

It should go without saying that if you are the One Right Church, you should know what the purpose of the church is. Why does the church exist? What is it trying to do? We take up these questions in this episode.

Does God still speak? Or, more specifically, does he say new things? In this episode, we talk about how God reveals Himself. It is common for churches that consider themselves the one right church to seek new or additional revelation through a called or appointed man. How can you trust that God is speaking? We hope our discussion helps you discern the voice of God.

In this episode, we talk about Lamentations 2:14. It says, "Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading." It surprised us when it suggested that your iniquities must be exposed to restore your fortunes. Mark realized his iniquities were never talked about when he was part of the one right church. He didn't have hope for restored fortunes because he never dealt with his sin. The good news about trusting in Jesus is that he forgives our sins. They are exposed, paid for, and forgiven.

It has been said that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. One characteristic of the One Right Church is that a secondary issue becomes primary. The church begins to focus on something that isn't the main thing. Then, either peer pressure or a dominant leader enforces the importance of the secondary thing. The primary thing disappears when the secondary becomes too important. In this episode, we talk about a tragic turn that this took recently, when a family in the Followers of Christ failed to seek medical care for their infant. It is a sobering reminder to keep Jesus, not an auxiliary belief, central.

We all have traditions, habits, attitudes, or anything really that can keep us in the dark. Those things are beyond examination. In this episode, we relay a story Mark heard about someone who felt his religious identity didn't need to be examined. That is, until his daughter challenged him to read the Bible for himself. Uncomfortably at first, but then happily, he found his opinions changing. Our challenge is simple: Read the Bible for yourself. Don't protect yourself from it. Let it speak to you and evaluate your traditions. You may be really happy you did.

The name of our podcast is The One Right Church. But what is it? What makes a church the one right church? We thought it would be worthwhile to discuss a list of characteristics that, I hope, will help you know if you are in a situation that might fall into the category of the "One Right Church."

Charismatic Leadership can be a gift or a curse to a church. The Biblical requirement is humility and a servant attitude, recognizing that the church belongs to Jesus. It is dangerous when the leader approaches the church as something that serves him. Some of the negative effects have to do with how followers react to them. Followers can be attracted to charismatic leadership because it offers certainty and confidence in an uncertain world.

In this episode, we talk about the hard things. What do you do when you are afflicted? Why would God let bad things happen to you? And, to the point, is how you handle the pain in your life really helping you? We hope this episode on affliction is helpful to you. More than that, we hope the fact that your life isn't easy will help you know Jesus. He suffered, too. He chose his hard things for your good. Isaiah 53:4-7 connects our affliction and the affliction of Jesus! Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Affliction can help you know and love Jesus!

Do you have a counterfeit God? If you did, I'll bet you'd want to know. In this episode, we talk about Tim Keller's book, Counterfeit Gods, which Mark recently read. Our hearts are idol factories. We look for something that will promise a better life, and we place our hope in it beyond what it can deliver. Counterfeit Gods cannot be resisted by sheer willpower. They must be replaced by something better. There is no substitute for the God of the Bible who loves us and sent his Son, Jesus.

Prayer is a mystery and a privilege. Prayer is to being a Christian as conversation is to marriage. In this episode, we discuss what makes prayer effective and why we should pray. Christian prayer is distinguished by having Christ Jesus as a great high priest. It isn't just that Christ makes prayer Christian; he makes it successful. We hope this will help you pray more and better.