We are currently looking for a gospel preacher to work with us.

If you are interested please contact Joe Cash at (205) 541-4346 OR Wendell Parrish at (205) 365-2622.

 

Welcome to Lay Lake
church of Christ, Columbiana, Alabama

You will be more than welcome at all of our services. Please come and bring your Bible to "search the Scriptures" with us.  

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From the time God called Abraham to go to a country that He would show him, with a promised blessing when this command was obeyed, God has always required certain people to go to certain places for safety or blessing. None whom God called could reach His blessing without doing what God told him to do.

We call to memory that when God brought a flood upon the earth, He placed salvation from the flood for Noah and his family in the ark and all had to go into the ark to be saved from death. Many good people in our time would argue that God has as much power out of the ark as in the ark. They would argue that going into the ark was unnecessary, and they would have been preaching salvation out of the ark.

Coming now to the New Testament, I call to your attention that Jesus purchased His church with His blood (Acts 20:28). Being purchased by the blood of Christ, it became a divine institution in which Jesus is said to be the head and that church is His body (Eph. 1:22-23). This church is built upon a divine foundation of which Jesus is the chief corner stone (2:20-22). All people who are reconciled to God must be reconciled in this one body or church (2:16). The God of heaven has located salvation from all past sins in, not out of His church. There is no promise of any man being saved outside the church of Christ and here is where the great battle comes between Truth and error—between the human churches and the church of Christ.

1. Some people argue that there are people who are just as good in one church as in another. That is true, but God does not save us on account of our goodness, but on account of our spirituality. Jesus teaches that we must be born again (John 3:3-5).

2. Some say we are saved outside the church, then join the church because we are saved. Paul said Christ purchased the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28). So if you are saved outside of the church you are saved outside of the purchased possession and you must claim salvation apart from the blood of Christ.

3. Some argue that it is God—not the church—who saves. That is true. But where does God save? Paul says we are reconciled in one body (Eph. 2:16) and that this one body is the church (Col. 1:18- 24). Now, since God reconciles us in the church, if you were reconciled outside the church it was not God who did the reconciling.

4. Some will ask, “Won’t God save me out of the church?” Let Jesus answer. In Matthew 7, He argues that there are only two classes of builders—those who build on the rock and those who build on the sand. The structures of those who build on the sand will fall, but those on the rock will stand. When Peter confessed the Son of God, Jesus answered and said, “upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). Since the church is built upon the rock, if you are building outside it, you are building upon the sand and Jesus said your building will fall.

5. We are reconciled to God in the church or one body (Eph. 2:16). Then if you are saved outside the church, you are saved outside of reconciliation to God. No one would want that kind of salvation for that is an impossibility.

Having now learned where I am reconciled to God, the next question to settle is this: “What must I do to come into the place of reconciliation?” Jesus answers by saying we must “hear” His sayings and “do” them to be like the wise builder (Matt. 7:24). In doing the sayings of Jesus, I must “believe” that He is the Son of God (John 20:31). After believing, I must “repent” of my sins (Luke 13:5). After repenting, I must “confess” Him before men (Matt. 10:32), and in the great commission Jesus not only taught that I should believe, but that I must be baptized to reach salvation (Mark 16:16). This agrees with Paul’s statement that “as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). So, these five commands taught at different places in the New Testament teach me what I must do to be saved. If our entrance into the city of God depends upon our doing His commandments, no one can have a hope of salvation short of complying with the same. I should be willing to not only obey for my own salvation, but for those with whom I may associate along life’s pathway. As salvation is located in the only church Christ purchased with His own blood, and the way into that church is made so plain, the only reason one can offer for not being saved is that he simply does not want to do God’s will.

Articles

  Prayers pleasing to God need not be lengthy and must not be filled with “vain repetitions”. The Lord taught His disciples to avoid this common error of the Pharisees who, He said, use “vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (Matt. 6:7). The efficacy in prayer is not dependent on the number of words used, or the eloquence of the speaker who chooses them. One of the most poignant and impressive prayers in the Bible has in it only two words! David, facing formidable enemies, deeply troubled, uncertain what course would be best for him to follow and fully aware of his own inability to resolve his problems, cried out, “Help, Lord” (Psa. 12:1). This was no time for speech-making to God! All who face trials in life—and eventually all do—can fully empathize with the embattled Psalmist, and recall those painful occasions when in turning to the Lord, there was the sobering realization that there was no one else to whom to turn. The Bible abounds with these wonderful and precious assurances to the faithful. “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). “As thy day is, so shall thy strength be” (Deut. 33:25). “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Cor. 12:9). When sin-stricken, burdened, and weary, From bondage I longed to be free, There came to my heart the sweet message: “My grace is sufficient for thee”. Though tempted and sadly discouraged, My soul to this refuge will flee, And rest in the blessed assurance: “My grace is sufficient for thee”. ***

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