January 28, 2008
True Church Discipline
| Host: | Vic Eliason |
| Guest: | Jeff Noblit |
| Listen: | RealAudio | Windows Media | MP3 | Order Tape or CD |
Who ever heard of a disciplined church? After all, isn't church today supposed to be a "do your own thing" type of activity where each person seeks a church that features a likeable pastor preaching their favorite theology and above all, that allows everyone to seek their own "purpose".
That's not the biblical model for a disciplined church as you'll discover when you listen to this edition of Crosstalk that features Pastor Jeff Noblit of First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Pastor Noblit 's church features an activity that they call a True Church Conference. It's theme is--Church Discipline: The Missing Key to True Church Growth.
The True Church Conference idea began last year by request from people outside of his church wanting to know how they do what they do in terms of striving to be a true, biblically healthy church. This means striving to be true as opposed to being popular or successful in the secular sense. Church discipline was chosen as the topic in order to address the biblical truth and practices that are being neglected or abandoned by some churches today.
Pastor Noblit notes that discipline is key because growth is the result of purity. Without purity, where there is known, willful, outward and unrepentant sin, the sanctity of the church is lost and you lose the power of the Holy Spirit. When churches are not striving for purity and holiness, leaving out accountability and discipline, growth ends up being manufactured in the power of the flesh.
True, there is a wide gamut of churches, some that seem to have almost no discipline, while still others can seem controlling. In response to this, Pastor Noblit believes that church discipline must be administered with humility and a compassion for the glory of God and the good of the individual..
The True Church Conference will include David Miller who will preach on Justification, Sanctification and Glorification; Paul Washer will preach on reducing the need for discipline; Pastor Noblit will preach on purity, power and church growth; Dr. Jay Adams will speak via satellite on corrective discipline in the local church; Paul Washer will return to preach on church discipline and world missions; and Pastor Noblit closes it out with a session on church discipline, church growth and the glory of God.
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