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CARROLLTON BAPTIST
CHURCH IN ESSENCE is an assembly of believers who
have been given a divine reason for existing. More
than programs and special ministries, CBC is a
living community in Christ Jesus whose mission is to
faithfully carry out the Great Commission and to
exemplify the characteristics of a New Testament
church.
BECAUSE IT IS OUR DESIRE TO BE A MODEL CHURCH, there
are several objectives which we must attempt to meet
if this is to be realized. Striving to truly know
God is the foremost priority. Approaching this
objective will be manifested through Spirit-led
corporate worship as well as by a high view of, and
total submission to, the authority of God's Word.
Another priority is the spreading of the Gospel. As
a church, we truly fall short of modeling the New
Testament role if
there is failure to evangelize our world. Our task
is to faithfully obey this commission. Maturing into
Christ-likeness is a third priority. Performed by
the Holy Spirit, this ministry is accomplished as the believer grows
in the knowledge and understanding of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
IN OUR
EFFORT TO BECOME A MODEL CHURCH, we will strive to reach the essence of the
following: passionately exalting Christ in
everything; joyfully extending mercy to everyone.
CHURCH
COVENANT
We,
the saints of Carrollton Baptist Church, having, as we trust, been brought
by Divine Grace to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to give
up ourselves to Him, trusting in His Holy Spirit to sanctify and perfect us,
and having been baptized upon our profession of faith, in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, relying on His
gracious aid, solemnly and joyfully enter into this covenant with our Lord
and with each other.
We will work and
pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
We will walk
together in brotherly love, as becomes the members of a
Christian Church;
exercise an affectionate care and watchfulness over
each other; and faithfully admonish
and entreat one another as occasion
may
may require.
We will not
forsake the assembling of ourselves together, nor neglect to
pray for ourselves and others.
We will endeavor
to bring up such as may at any time be under our care,
in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord, and by a pure and loving
example to
seek the salvation of our family and friends.
We will rejoice
at each other's happiness, and endeavor with tenderness
and sympathy to bear each other's burdens and sorrows.
We will seek, by Divine aid, to
live carefully in the world, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, and remembering that, as we have been
voluntarily buried by baptism and raised again from the symbolic grave,
so there is on us a special obligation now to lead a new and holy life.
We will work together for the
continuance of a faithful evangelical
ministry in this Church, as we sustain its worship, ordinances,
discipline, and doctrines. We will contribute cheerfully and regularly
to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the Church, the relief of
the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations.
We will, when we move from this
place, as soon as possible, unite with
some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant
and the principles of God's Word.
May the
grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy
Spirit be with us all.
Amen.
SUNDAY SERVICES
Sunday School . . . . . . 9:45 A.M.
Early Song Praise . . . .10:45 A.M.
Morning Service . . . 11:00 A.M.
Evening Service . . . . . 5:45 P.M.
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WEDNESDAY
Team Kid
Youth
Discipleship / Prayer Meeting
6:45 P.M. |
Tasteless
Salt
When Christians
Lose Their Taste
"Salt is good,"
Jesus said. These were words that out Lord spoke to a crowd of would-be
followers in
Luke's Gospel (Luke 1434). Of course Jesus was speaking metaphorically.
Jesus was
using salt and its distinctive characteristics in a moral sense. Salt,
as a spice, has a
preservative
characteristic. It prevents certain foods from spoiling. It also has a
seasoning characteristic which enhances the taste of the foods we eat.
Christians, Jesus said in another
Gospel, are to be
like salt to the world around them. We are to be a deterrent to the
decaying
power of sin in society, and we are to season for the good the lives of
those around us. When we
as Christians
function as we should, we match up well with our Lord's comment, "salt
is good".
The question is,
when do we do that? When do we function as we should?
The key to
answering that question is found in the verses leading up to our Lord's
words in
Luke 1434. The passage is Luke 14.25-33 and deals with the subject of
discipleship.
You will recall
(since I just preached on it) that this passage lays out the hard terms
for following
Christ. Basically,
Jesus told the people that if they were unwilling to surrender to his
terms for discipleship, they could not be His disciples. The terms all
indicated that nothing but
wholehearted
devotion and loyalty to Christ would do. Family, one's own life, and
everything
else in life must be secondary to One's wholehearted pursuit of Christ
and His Kingdom. That's what Jesus' followers were to be like, and
that's what it means to function as a Christian should.
But suppose one who
professes to be a follower of Christ hesitates. Suppose he just can't
bring himself to follow through on his initial commitment to be a
disciple. Perhaps he believes it
necessary to wait and first bury his father, as one
would-be follower thought in Luke 9.59-60.
Or perhaps the idea
of facing persecution and rejection and betrayal for sharing the good
news about
Jesus was a price to high to pay. What are we to think of these hesitant
followers?
Our Lord's
metaphor in v.34-35 supplies the answer. "Salt is good, but if salt
has lost Us taste, how
shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or
for the manure pile. It is thrown away..." When Christians lose their saltiness,
their effect on others around
them concerning eternity is negated. And unless
they repent, their usefulness to the Lord is lost.
So let us ask ourselves some hard questions. Am I
functioning the way a true disciple of
Christ functions? Is He everything to me? Is He
and the advancing of His kingdom of greater worth to me than my family,
my life, and the world? If we can answer these questions
affirmatively, we
have not lost our taste; we are the salt that is good. That's God's
evaluation of all who embrace our Lord's terms for discipleship. May
God's grace cause us to embrace the
terms ever more.
Grace be to
you,
Passionately exalting Christ in everything;
joy fully extending mercy to everyone.
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