Deliberate Church: Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – Applying the Regulative Principle

Introduction
How can we structure our Sunday morning worship gatherings in a way that reflects God’s commitment to shaping the church by His Word?
Read The Word, Preach The Word, Pray The Word, Sing The Word, See The Word (ordinances)

These 5 basics are essential to the corporate life, health, and holiness of any local church.

Read the Bible
1 Timothy 4:13: “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture.”
The regular public reading of the Bible makes a statement about how much we value God’s Word.

Preach the Bible
2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the Word.”
We must present the point of the passage as the point of the sermon, and do so with Gospel-colored glasses.

Pray the Bible
1 Timothy 2:1: “I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men.”
We must have biblical prayers as we approach God corporately.

Sing the Bible
Ephesians 5:19: “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.”
We must only sing songs that are built on and saturated with Scripture. The best songs are the ones that draw our attention away from us on to God.

See the Bible
Luke 22:19: “Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, we see the gospel acted out. “The ordinances are the visible sings and seals of participation in the New Covenant.”

On Multiple Services
By definition, the church is a singular gathering of people in one place at one time. Multiple services really represent multiple churches.