I’ve been thinking, praying, and talking about being debt free for a couple of years, and next week is our “Be Debt Free” offering to celebrate our 39th anniversary! I am so excited to go into our 40th year of ministry here in Temecula, and to minister without a mortgage would be incredible.

We minister for souls to be saved, baptized, and trained in the Scriptures, and being debt free will only enhance that. Our staff works tirelessly, and being debt free will allow us to help them closer to a southern California living wage.

Today’s emphasis (see the next pages) is on the long-term stability that can come from being debt free. Depending on how God blesses, I’ve got plenty of vision for the future of our church. Every gift given to the Lord has a plan, from $10 to $10M, and our first major project will be an exterior update. Our sign and landscaping need a refresh, our paint and lighting need some love, and the newest parts of our building are 20 years old. That means AC units are on the verge, interior flooring is worn out, the parking lot concrete is cracked… everything requires money, and Phase One is about fixing and updating stuff. Phase Two includes some big dreams too, but first things first.

I’m sure David was super excited for the offering he took for the temple, but I think I’m just as excited! Sure, our project is not as grand as his, but it’s no less important. This is the house of God, and we get to be a part of it!

David asked, “Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD?”

Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king’s work, offered willingly, and gave for the service of the house of God.

Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy. (See 1 Chron. 29)

-Pastor Ryan

There’s a special day for everything these days, but our three main secretaries do a lot of work around here, so they deserve to be honored on this day!

MRS. MARICELA ESTACUY.                                                                                                  Mrs. Maricela has a special balance of tenacity and personality. She’s not such a bulldog that she scares people, but she can get things done! She’s perfect for an office like ours—she’s always working on some kind of major print job, but she’s also ready to sit and chat with someone who needs to talk. I love that I can give her anything and know it will be done.

MRS. JAMIE RENCH                                                                                                                  My wife is also my secretary, and our relationship has only deepened through our work at the church together. Whatever event happens around here, Mrs. Jamie has basically single-handedly planned it. Not to take away from anyone else’s planning, but she’s the one that thinks of the details and keeps them on track. She helps me keep up with people, and she’s just really, really good at being a secretary. Not every pastor and wife could work together, but for us, it is great. She’s the best.

MRS. SHAE ROBERTS                                                                                                                Mrs. Shae has hit her stride. She now has one entire calendar year under her belt, and she’s constantly refining our finances to show where every dollar is going. It is incredible work, and here’s the greatest miracle of all… she actually loves it! She also does our photography and social media, and I appreciate how things just run so smoothly without me ever having to push and prod. She has only enhanced our ministry since moving here, and I am so grateful.

Honorable mention: Mrs. Chris Rangel                                                                                Mrs. Rangel still keeps records as our church clerk, and tracks the contributions every week. On paper she may only do a few hours per week, but who she is to our church is incalculable. I am so thankful for her continued contribution.

Church, thank these wonderful ladies for all their fine work behind the scenes. They’ve done far more than you (or I) will ever realize. I will give them a gift from the church, but I encourage you to use your words, write a little note, or send a little text to them. I know they’re more like “my” administrative assistants, but, really, they’re serving you. And they’re serving so well. God bless ’em!

–Pastor Ryan

For our “Be Debt Free” Sunday coming up in a couple of weeks, the only kind of giving that pleases God is that which is from the heart. I’d go so far as to say that if you can’t give it biblically… don’t! This isn’t about the money. God’s got plenty.

Instead, it’s about getting in on God’s blessings! The Andrades said that so well in the video last week. Tithes and offerings are not really a sacrifice at all… it is a blessing to give! Spirit-filled giving is not giving to get from God. He’s not a vending machine.

But you know what? He sure does bless. We have been talking about this “Be Debt Free” offering since the end of last year, and God has blessed me in one particular area right down to the month when we committed to give. We’ve had a little side income going steady for over 10 years, but when we committed in December to lay funds aside to give, that month doubled. And January too. February and March tripled.

Skeptics call it coincidence. I call it God.

Lets get in on what God wants to do. God is at work. Souls are being saved. People are being baptized and discipled and trained in the Word of God. We are not perfect, but we are active about obeying the Great Commission, and we are trying to help people.

This is the work of God.

Thank you, church, for serving Him from your heart.

-Pastor Ryan

On Sunday we unveiled the “BE DEBT FREE SUNDAY” board, and already $55k is committed toward our $200k debt. Glory to God!

My kids are even getting in on this blessing. The girls went door to door with the neighborhood girls and extorted asked people if they wanted homemade lemonade. After a couple times of doing that, they made over $80 and split it up among themselves! From that, our girls gave about $20 for the paper chain going down the kids’ wing hallway! What a blessing! My son is mowing lawns and giving from that, too.

It’s a blessing to give. Since committing to this offering at the beginning of the year, God has blessed our family TRIPLE in an area that has been the same for over 10 years. Skeptics will call it coincidence, but literally the month that we committed to this offering is the same month that the increase started. I call that God’s blessing!

It is an honor to be a part of God’s great work.

–Pastor Ryan

As we have been leading up to our “Be Debt Free Sunday” on May 3, we have tried to emphasize that this is not as much about our buildings as it is about God. Even in all the temple preparations, King David tried to emphasize the same things, telling his son Solomon that the Lord would never fail him.

Being debt free is about God. We want the current and the next generation to worship the same Lord in the same way as the previous generation.

On the other hand, each generation can look different without compromise. Today we will be in 1 Chronicles, which was written to the post-exile audience of Jews after their return to Jerusalem. Remember in Ezra 3 when they rebuilt the temple? The old generation remembered Solomon’s temple and wept when they saw the new temple, yet the young generation cheered because this was all they knew! They now had their own temple to worship in. Although it might not have been as magnificent as Solomon’s temple, nowhere in the Scriptures does it indicate that it was wrong or bad just because it was different.

So this audience is reading about a temple from almost 500 years earlier! Of course there are differences, but the same God.

Today, it’s no different. Abraham trusted God by faith—looking forward to Jesus through the sacrifices and believing what God said. He was not saved by works or by circumcision but by faith in God. We look back through time and place our faith in Jesus alone. Just as Abraham was saved by faith completely separate from works, we are saved by faith in Christ. We serve the same God. We are saved the same way.

The temple of God is the house of God—His church—and we are His family, born again by the Spirit of God and adopted as full-fledged children of God, co-heirs with Christ of all that is His.

We have so, so much to be thankful for. It’s all about God.

-Pastor Ryan

On Easter Sunday we had more guest cards turned in than we have in a long time—and that wasn’t even all the guests! I commend our greeting team for getting those cards turned in, but I also commend you for helping out our greeters! We had many people bringing friends, and I was so encouraged to see guests being warmly greeted in both the morning and the evening services. What a joy!

I like the two-minute rule. Not the one in football, but the one we talked about on Sunday night: the first two minutes after each service, talk to someone new. After the two minutes, go hang out with your friends. That’s fine. But just before you launch into “I have to get this thing to _____” or, “I’ve been wanting to ask her about _____,” save those conversations for two minutes and go to someone new first.

We’ve been following up by letter, text message, and visits this week, and I’m trying to make it to every home to have that little personal touch to say we love them. I’ve been going with men on Saturdays, and some ladies will sometimes take cookies to guests throughout the week, too. Those little personal touches mean so much. Maybe you could be a part of that process, too!

In the meantime, pray. Pray for Marvin who got saved on Sunday. Pray for others who heard the Gospel—some of them for the very first time in their lives. Pray for your friends that did not come to church, but that you’ll continue to see. Pray for our Fall Festival, and work on them to come to that.

I want to double our efforts for Easter next year. We handed out about 5,000 flyers this year—in large part due to the kids going out every week with the Records and other adults—and next year I’d like to double that to 10,000 flyers. We had a long meeting on Monday about more ways to glorify the Lord through our church. What a blessing to be a part of what God is doing here! That is fruit to your account!

–Pastor Ryan

CLICK HERE for Subtitute booklet

CLICK HERE for Substitute brochure

One of the Strangest Stories in the Bible

I think one of the strangest stories in the Bible is when God asks a dad to sacrifice his own son on an altar.

This is not just any father and son combination. This is Abraham and Isaac.

The Bible storyline is that God promised Abraham, “I will make of thee a new nation and give you a new land.” (see Genesis 12). And in his old age, Abraham was going to have a son.

Years go by, and the promise is not happening. So Abraham has a concubine and has a son with her. But that son was not the promised child. That son was named Ishmael, and the descendants of Ishmael now make up many of the Muslim countries surrounding Israel still today.

God promised Abraham a seed, and Abraham tried to accomplish that promise his own way, and God said no. Eventually, finally, Abraham is 100 and his wife is 90. Against all natural odds, miraculously, they have this baby. Isaac is his name.

Again, one of the strangest stories in the Bible is when God tells Abraham:

Gen. 22:2 “And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”

To Mt. Moriah

Abraham gets up early the next day, takes a couple servants, takes his son Isaac, gathers some firewood, and goes three days to Mount Moriah. You can read all of this in Genesis 22 and Hebrews 11. They leave the servants at the base of the mountain, and Abraham and Isaac begin climbing. They have the wood for the altar, the fire, and the knife.

Genesis 22:7–8 “And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

[I imagine some nervous laughter… “Dad?”]

“And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.”

This is still so strange. They had seen animal sacrifices, but human sacrifice? “God? Are You sure?”

But Abraham was confident in God. He told his servants that they would both be back, and Hebrews 11 tells us Abraham believed God would raise his son from the dead. He had so much faith in God that Abraham literally laid his only begotten son on the altar, and verse 10 says he stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

Why Blood?

That does not seem right. What is this whole matter of sacrifice? Why does someone or something need to die? Could we not just burn a candle, burn some incense, or leave some food in front of an idol like other religions?

The idea of a blood sacrifice goes all the way back to the beginning of creation. Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden.

Adam had walked with God, talked with God, face to face. But Adam disobeyed God’s command, broke God’s law, and the curse of death fell on mankind from that time on.

I am giving a broad overview of the message of the Bible, but Scripture teaches that man used to be pure, and mankind walked with God. But man’s sin broke that purity, and now we are born in sin, having broken God’s commands.

In God’s plan, in order for His perfect holiness to be satisfied, in order for man to be purified, and in order for man to come into God’s presence, a substitute must be made.

God warned Adam that the punishment would be death, so that is where the blood sacrifice comes in. God’s justice could be satisfied if something shed its blood in the place of another.

When Adam sinned, God made a coat of skins to cover Adam and Eve. There was blood shed over their sin, in place of their sin.

Their sons—Cain and Abel—were both apparently instructed in sacrifices. One son, Cain, brought a food sacrifice, something he had grown. But Abel brought a blood sacrifice, and only Abel’s sacrifice was accepted. So Cain killed Abel in a jealous rage.

The blood sacrifice was not just a Mosaic law practice. The Jews later performed rituals, burning animals on the altar, but that came much later. The whole idea of sacrifice came from the mind of God, the design of God.

Blood Substitution

Are you with me so far? Man broke God’s law, and justice must be paid. But in God’s grace, man does not have to pay with his own blood. A substitute sacrifice could be made.

That is what the animal sacrifices represented all through the Old Testament.

David and the Threshingfloor

In 2 Samuel 24, David’s reign takes place almost 1,000 years after Abraham.

This is Israel, the promised nation. They are in their land. David is the second king of Israel, and in this chapter David sinfully numbers the people. God judges David’s sin with a pestilence, a plague that sweeps through the land for three days. As the plague draws near, the prophet tells David, “Go build an altar.” Here it is again. There has been sin, so blood must be shed. David buys this hilltop—verse 18, the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

In verse 25, there are burnt offerings and peace offerings. The burnt sacrifice was one where the whole animal was consumed. The peace sacrifice was a celebration of thanks to God. God will no longer judge. The payment is satisfied, completely forgiven. Now there is peace.

Is God Fair?

On one side, some people think God is not fair. “It was not that bad. The payment of blood is too severe.” And we sit as the creation, acting as though we know more than the Creator. In order to be a true atheist, a person would have to know everything there is to know in the universe in order to know there is not a God, or, if there is one, that He is somehow morally bad.

So I do not believe that there are any true atheists. But an agnostic will say, “I am not sure if there is a God or not.” That is something we can work with. At least the agnostic is not saying, “I know for sure there is no God,” because that person is leaving the door open for gaps in knowledge. There may be things that person does not know.

Two Reactions to God’s Justice

Some think this concept of God requiring blood goes too far. “God is cruel and mean.”

Others think God does not go far enough. “What about all the heinous evil in this world? Are you saying those people could be forgiven, that they could have peace with God, and that God would drop all charges against them?”

That is exactly what I am saying. The worst person on this planet can have all charges dropped against him, as long as a blood sacrifice takes his place.

God Will Provide Himself a Lamb

I left the Abraham story at a critical moment. Just as Abraham was lifting up the knife to slay his son, a voice from heaven calls Abraham’s name and stops him. Abraham’s earlier words came true when Isaac had asked, “I see the wood and the fire, but where is the sacrifice, Dad?” Remember what Abraham said? “God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” And right then:

Genesis 22:13 “And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.”

Faith, Not Proof

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:19 that Abraham had faith in God. Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham reasoned, “God, You said this was my promised son, so I am going to believe You, even though it does not fully make sense to me right now. I believe what You said. By faith, I accept it. You have never lied to me before. You have been trustworthy so far. I am going to trust You.”

To be a true atheist, a person would have to know all that there is to know and be able to prove that there is no God.

To prove means to show that something cannot be any other way. If you watched our Easter promotional video, I said, “With that definition of proof, I cannot prove anything.” I cannot prove my wife will not harm me in my sleep. I cannot prove that my lunch today was not laced with arsenic.

We do not live life by absolute proof. We live every day with evidence. Faith in that evidence shows that my wife loves me, she cares about me, and she does not want me to die in my sleep. The evidence also suggests that the food at our family gathering today will be safe. I do not believe anyone in our family would poison the meal—although if you know our family, you might think the probability is higher! But I am not going to take out a chemical test kit and test my food before I eat it, because I live by faith in the evidence that it is good food.

In the same way, Abraham could not prove anything, but Abraham believed that God was true based on the evidence that God had been faithful up to that point.

The Same Mountain

As it turned out, the sacrifice was right there beside Abraham. God told Abraham to go, and three days later Abraham stood on Mount Moriah, and God provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice.

Now consider David, on the very same mountain, almost 1000 years later. After three days of pestilence, David offers a sacrifice to stop the wrath of God against sin.

You know what else is significant about that hilltop? Not only did Abraham sacrifice there, and not only did David sacrifice there, but that very site became the place where the temple was built. You can confirm that in 2 Chronicles 3:1. This is not being said simply to create a compelling story. This is the incredible nature of the Bible.

The Meaning of the Temple

The temple of God was the place where the ark of the covenant of God was kept. Once a year, the high priest would take the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it on the mercy seat. Although the people had sinned, their sin was covered symbolically. God forgave their sin. Their sin was covered by the blood. God’s wrath was appeased, and justice was satisfied, because of the substitute sacrifice. In theological terms, this is the substitutionary atonement.

From Passover to Calvary

David reigned roughly around 1000 BC, about 1,000 years before Christ. And 1,000 Passovers came and went, year after year. Faithful Jews would gather with their families, slay a spotless lamb, and eat it as a memorial, remembering that day when Israel was released from bondage in Egypt. The blood of the lamb was put on their doorposts, and the death angel would pass over the homes that had the blood applied.

In the same way that a lamb took the place for Adam’s sin, and a ram took the place for Isaac on the altar, and an ox took the place for David’s sin on that altar, and a goat took the place of all Israel on the Day of Atonement every year—right there on that hill, Mount Moriah—

There was another hill, just a few hundred yards away. It is called the place of the skull, or Golgotha, or Mount Calvary. Our church is named after that place, where Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross.

A man named John the Baptist identified Him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

John saw Jesus as a sacrifice, a substitute for sin—just like the lamb, just like the ram, just like the ox, just like the goat. John was declaring that Jesus would shed His blood for man’s sin.

Jesus lived a perfect life and was unjustly sentenced to death on a cross. When Jesus hung on that cross, some of His last words were, “It is finished.” Then the skies went black as all the sin of humanity was placed on Jesus, and the Father turned His back on His only begotten Son.

Jesus became sin for us, who knew no sin, as the Bible says.

The Empty Tomb

There are so many parallels in the Bible. Jonah spent three days in the whale’s belly. Abraham walked three days to Mount Moriah. David experienced three days of pestilence.

If you know the story of Easter, Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights.

On that incredible Easter morning—Sunday morning, the day after the Sabbath, very early in the morning, a great while before day—Jesus rose from the dead, and the tomb was empty.

Why the Empty Grave Matters

1. Because Animal Sacrifices Were Not Enough

Why is that significant? For many reasons.

First, because the Bible teaches us that animal sacrifices were not sufficient to cover sin forever. The best those sacrifices could do was roll sin ahead another year.

But here is what God says in His Word:

Hebrews 9:11–14

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

So there it is. Jesus became that sacrifice for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

When you accept Christ’s free gift of salvation, all your sins are forgiven.

Colossians 2:13–14

“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;”

We needed an eternal sacrifice, and that required an eternal God to sacrifice Himself for us.

2. Because Jesus Conquered Death

Second, because the empty grave shows that God is more powerful than death itself. In the greatest chapter on the resurrection, God wrote this:

1 Corinthians 15:55–57

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The last great enemy on this earth is death itself, but Jesus made a way to defeat death.

3. Because If It Is True, It Changes Everything

Third, the empty grave is significant because, if it is true, it changes everything. You have to do something with that.

If it is true, then there is a God in heaven who is calling you to trust in Him. All who reject Him will end up in an eternal hell, forever separated from God by their own choosing. You will get your own will.

“But I do not want to choose today.” Refusing to choose is a rejection of the free gift of salvation.

Pascal’s Wager

Do not risk it. Pascal’s Wager says there are two options. Either Christianity is true or it is not true.

With both options, you have two choices. If Christianity is not true, you can believe it or not believe it.

If Christianity is not true, those of us who believe it are simply wasting our time. When we die—poof—it will just be nothingness.

If Christianity is not true, the same thing happens either way—poof, nothing.

So it would not hurt you whether you believed it or not.

But on the other side, Pascal’s Wager says this.

If Christianity is true, you still have two options: believe it or not believe it. If you believe it, you have everything to gain. If you do not believe it, you have everything to lose.

The Evidence and the Call

The evidence says there was a man named Jesus. He lived a life in Nazareth, doing many great things. Everyone agrees that Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross. Even the most skeptical historians believe that.

But the evidence also points to an empty grave. There were cowards who turned courageous. There was a literal empty tomb. There were eyewitnesses. There was a turning point in history, based on the singular event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I was not there. I cannot prove it. To prove means to show that it cannot be any other way, as we said before. But the evidence points to an empty grave and a resurrected Lord.

So if that is true, it changes everything. I owe Him everything. At least, that is what He said He expects of us.

That is why Christians are sometimes a little urgent with this message. We believe it, and we literally think that your eternity is at stake.

That tomb is empty. Jesus rose from the dead. He is calling you to repent of your sin and turn to Him in faith today. You can call on Him today and be 100% certain that you are on your way to heaven.

1 John 5:12–13

“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

The Invitation

Your sin required a blood sacrifice, and Jesus shed His blood for you.

Every lie you have told can be forgiven. Every lustful thought can be wiped clean. Every sin of anger, every blasphemy against God, every covetous thought, every greedy intention, every curse word you have uttered—it can all be forgiven, nailed to His cross, forever.

I am not talking about joining a church, giving an offering, or doing good works.

Jesus has done all the work necessary to save you.

We simply respond to Him in faith. We trust Him completely, turn to Him in repentance and faith, and believe in Him.

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

]]> 11700 https://cbctemecula.com/bulletin-note-4-5-2026/ Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:58:17 +0000 https://cbctemecula.com/?p=11691 Just a few days ago I spoke with someone who was brand new to Christianity. I mean, completely brand new. They’d heard of Jesus, but that’s about it.

On Easter, we expect many guests to be in the services, and I do not want to assume that everyone understands what I’m saying, or what we’re doing as a church. Nor do I want to talk down to people, or dumb the message down too far. It’s a fine balance, but today is for everyone—for people brand new and for people who have grown up in it.

Jesus is for everyone.

Jesus is for you! He died on the cross to take your sin and give you His righteousness. Today is a celebration of the day that He rose from the dead. Christians started gathering every Sunday after His resurrection to worship God and remember that world-changing event, so we are excited to gather today to be a part of something that goes back almost 2,000 years! In fact, it goes back about 6,000 years, as we will see in the sermon.

I wrote out my sermon notes in a booklet form so you could take this home and continue the study  for yourself. We are not trying to trick anyone into anything. I want you to have a well-founded faith. Don’t take my word for it—test the Scriptures and you will see that they all point to Jesus.

If He really did rise from the dead, it changes everything.

If He really did rise from the dead, it demands a decision:

Yes, I believe. Or no, I reject.

The booklet you can get at the end of today is called The Substitute, and I’ll talk about Jesus taking our place so that we could be free from sin and death. This could be a life-changing day for you.

Thank you for being here. Happy Resurrection Day!

-Pastor Ryan

NO TRANSUBSTANTIATION

Here’s what the Scriptures say:

1 Corinthians 11:24–26

“And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”

So don’t get mixed up in this false doctrine that this becomes his body. Paul didn’t believe that. He quoted Jesus that said, “This is my body,” but then in the very next verse it says, “Eat this bread.” Also in verse 27, “whosoever shall eat this bread…”

In the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, the Bible says says in v. 20 “But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.” Pastor James made it clear—we’re not drinking blood. That’s already been forbidden.

So Paul knew the bread and cup only represented Christ’s body. It doesn’t become Christ’s physical or spiritual body. It is to “shew the Lord’s death till he come.”

NO OPEN COMMUNION

We practice a closed communion based on the repetition of the phrase “when ye come together” in 1 Corinthians 11. Also in chapter 10 it says in verse 17, “For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”

Meaning, this is a uniting time as one bread and one body.

And if we’re somehow uniting with every Christian out there, as if we’re all one united bread, well that links me doctrinally with people who are apostate. A few verses later it says, 1 Corinthians 10:21, “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils…”

So either we’re united or we’re not. And I believe the unity he’s speaking of here is the unity of the local church’s doctrines.

When there’s church discipline, it’s at the local church level, and that disciplined one is removed from the communion. So if a person can be removed from communion, I just see that as the church exercising jurisdiction over the church membership only, not over all Christians in the world.

So that’s why we practice the Lord’s Table with our church family—those who are baptized members of Calvary Baptist Church. Not that we don’t love others, but it’s just that God’s given us the responsibility to guard our communion.

And it’s clear to me that to remove someone from communion, he must have been part of it in the first place.

No local church could kick someone out of communion with some universal, invisible church. Church discipline and communion only make sense at the local level of God’s church.

–Pastor Ryan

INCOMING! Today I wrote three letters we’ll be sending you over the next couple of weeks:

• BE DEBT FREE. I want you to know what’s coming up. Right now we are focusing on Easter outreach, but starting April 12, we will begin preparing for our BE DEBT FREE FOR MINISTRY plan.
• As the host church for camp, we want to be above-board in both our unity and our dress. I write about some past problems and upcoming plans for both in this letter.
• With Bro. Alex joining our staff on June 13, we will be making several transitions over the next year. This letter helps lay out the next season of ministry changes.

Thank you for reading! Stay tuned.

–Pastor Ryan