No. 3 in the Series “What Is a Healthy Church?” from the book by the same name by Mark Dever. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Wednesday evening, September 3, 2008.
It’s easy to talk the faith because it’s not hard to learn the vocabulary. It’s also easy because you know you probably won’t have to back it up. True Christian fraith is displayed when it is lived out. But how is this done? How is the church uniquely the church and not just another social agency? The starting point is with our identity: we do what we do because of who we are, and not the other way around. Because we are the redeemed of God we hear and obey his word; simple, but not easy.
Three essential marks of a healthy church; regardless of size, location, or worship style:
- Biblical Preaching: A good part of this is accomplished through expositional preaching. With this type of preaching the authority begins and ends with the text.
- Biblical Theology: We are concerned with not just how, but what we are being taught.
- A Biblical Understanding of the Gospel: This should overflow into our lives.