Chapter 1: God's Purpose for His Church

Chapter 1: God's Purpose for His Church

*The church is God's appointed agency for the salvation of men.
*The members of the church, 

those whom He has called out of darkness 

into His marvelous light, 

are to show forth His glory. 

*The church is the repository of the riches of the grace of Christ; and through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to "the principalities and powers in heavenly places," the final and full display of the love of God. Ephesians 3:10.

"Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Isaiah 56:7.
*The church is God's fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a revolted world.
Through centuries of persecution, conflict, and darkness, God has sustained His church.
*During ages of spiritual darkness the church of God has been as a city set on a hill. 

*From age to age, through successive generations, the pure doctrines of heaven have been unfolding within its borders. 

*Enfeebled and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard.
--The Jewish leaders thought themselves too wise to need instruction, too righteous to need salvation... The Savior turned from them to entrust to others the privileges they had abused and the work they had slighted. 

God's glory must be revealed, 

His word established. 

*The salvation of God must be made known .... and the disciples were called to do the work that the Jewish leaders had failed to do.