A. Matt. 16:15-18. Jesus built His church, the one church, the one body of Christ. It will 

         stand! But there are 100s of major divisions within Christendom. Is it possible today to

         just be a Christian and to just do as the Bible says with respect to the church? Yes!

 

     A. King Josiah. 2 Chr. 34:1-3, 8, 14-15, 18-19, 21, 29-33.

     B. Josiah saw the need to return to what God wanted. For years, the people had been taught

         error and worshiped in error. But it didn’t matter that they were ignorant (without the 

         book of the law). They were still accountable to God. Josiah tore robe.

     C. Immediate need to purge the unauthorized and implement what God desired.

 

       A. It is hard to believe that people would purposely leave the truth, but it happens.

       B. Acts 20:29-30; 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1-13; 2 Tim.4:1-5. Churches of Rev. 2 &3.

       C. Many things added were never taught/authorized. Holy water, penance, infant baptism,

            celibacy of priests, purgatory, salvation on faith only, unauth. worship, etc.

 

      A. Seed principle. Word of God is seed. Plant anywhere, any era, will produce the church

           and Christians. Men have sought to restore the church in many centuries.

      B. American Restoration Movement is one effort to restore the church. Many early

           personalities: Barton W. Stone, Raccoon John Smith, Thomas Campbell, Alexander

           Campbell, Walter Scott, and many others. Sought to restore the ancient order.

      C. Goal: unite believers by laying aside creeds and going to the Bible as the only guide.

      D. Barton Stone was a trained and ordained Presbyterian preacher. As he taught more and

           more of the Bible and less of Presbyterian doctrine, he saw the need to break with the

           Presbyterian Church. He and some others formed the Springfield Presbytery. Within a

           year, they saw that they had simply added another division to "Christianity." They had

           become a part of the problem by adding another division. They decided to disband the

           Springfield Presbytery. Stone wrote the “Last Will and Testamen

Print