Tag: Lord’s Day

WORSHIP ON THE LORD’S DAY

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Shelby G. Floyd

lords-day

The New Testament clearly outlines the essentials on worship. These are: the Lord’s Supper, the contribution, prayer, preaching, and singing. However, in the matters of judgment or incidentals the New Testament does not have a lot to say. This indicates that God leaves it up to our human judgment as to how we should carry out what he has commanded when he has not specifically stated how we are to carry it out!

A Window into Worship

In our text, we have a window through which to see a worship service of the New Testament church. This worship took place at Troas on Paul’s third evangelistic journey (Acts 20:1-12).

As Paul traveled around visiting the churches he encouraged them with the word of God. Comfort and encouragement mostly comes from the word of God: “He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece” (Acts 20:2).

First Day of the Week Worship

We notice that worship at Troas was on the first day of the week. This is what we call Sunday. Why was worship on Sunday and not on Saturday or any other day of the week?

“Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7 NKJV).

Why did the New Testament church worship on Sunday instead of Saturday, which was the day of worship for the Jews? They worshipped on Sunday because Jesus Christ himself sanctified the first day of the week, by his own resurrection from the dead on the first day the week (Luke 24:1).

John Worshipped in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day

John the apostle was exiled to the island of Patmos, probably by Domitian (84-96 A. D.). He was away from the church on the mainland of Asia Minor. But on Sunday—the first day of the week, John described himself as being in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10). This means, that he was in heart and soul with the congregation that worshipped on the first day of the week. On Sunday all Christians need to be present in body and spirit to worship the Lord.

Let us also be devoted to taking the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week, to remember the salvation we have in Christ. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).

Copyright © 2011-2016 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved

Shelby G. Floyd

Shelby G. Floyd
Heartland Church of Christ
1693 West Main Street
Greenwood, Indiana 46142

Identity Theft Prevention–Identifying the New Testament Church Today!

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Shelby G. Floyd

Identity Theft Rise

Credit: Google Images

About 32 A.D., or one year before the day of Pentecost, Jesus declared, “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). Did Christ in fact do what he said he would do? Yes he did. On the day of Pentecost the apostles received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). And all of them stood up and preached the good news in languages that everyone could understand (Acts 2:5-14).

We have one of the apostles sermon recorded—the apostle Peter. Near the end of his sermon the audience cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” His answer was, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The Bible declares, “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41). And in the last verse of that chapter, the Bible says, “And the Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved” (Acts 2:47). Jesus said “I will build my church” and one year later the church is spoken of as being in existence.

Now the question is can we identify that church in our day and time? The church existed on the day of Pentecost and up to the end of the first century. Can we identify that same church today? It would be a reflection upon your intelligence to suggest that all of the churches today with their different doctrines and practices would in fact be the church we read about in the Bible. Continue reading “Identity Theft Prevention–Identifying the New Testament Church Today!” →

Worship on the Lord’s Day

Published on by sgf1964Leave a comment

By

Shelby G. Floyd

Lords Day

The New Testament clearly outlines the essentials on worship. These are: the Lord’s Supper, the contribution, prayer, preaching, and singing. However, in the matters of judgment or incidentals the New Testament does not have a lot to say. This indicates that God leaves it up to our human judgment as to how we should carry out what he has commanded. In our text, we have a window through which to see a worship service of the New Testament church. This worship took place at Troas on Paul’s third evangelistic journey (Acts 20:1-12).

Window into Worship

As Paul traveled around visiting the churches he encouraged them with the word of God. Comfort and encouragement mostly comes from the word of God. “He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece” (Acts 20: 2).

First Day of the Week Worship

We notice that worship at Troas was on the first day of the week. This is what we call Sunday. Why was worship on Sunday and not on Saturday or any other day of the week? “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight” (Acts 20: 7). Why did the New Testament church worship on Sunday instead of Saturday, which was the day of worship of the Jews? By his own resurrection from the dead on the first day the week, Jesus Christ himself sanctified the first day of the week, not the seventh day (Luke 24:1).

The Lord’s Supper Observed on Sunday

Let us also be devoted to taking the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week to remember the salvation we have in Christ. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2: 42). The apostle John was exiled on the island of Patmos and declared he “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” This was definitely Sunday the first day of the week (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).

Copyright © 2014 Shelby Floyd All Rights Reserved

Shelby Preaching

Shelby G. Floyd
Heartland Church of Christ
1693 West Main Street
Greenwood, Indiana 46142