The Bride Of Christ

INTRO: Today we commemorate the day of Pentecost. It was the middle of the seven feasts of Israel and fell between two sections of three feasts each. It is the day of the birth of the Church as recorded in Acts 2. I have taught much on this subject. Now, you will not remember this, but in 2014 I began to preach on the doctrine of the Church. So let me briefly tell you what we have covered from that time on. We began by identifying the Church, what it is and what it is not. Then we looked at the history of the Church. We looked at how Jesus foretold that it would come, and then at the birth of the Church in Acts 2. From there we looked at its growth, how it started in Jerusalem, spread to Samaria and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. We then looked at the Church in the Epistles, and last, at the prophecies regarding the Church as shown in the seven churches in Revelation 2-3.

We then began to look at the illustrations of the Church. We saw it viewed as a body, and then as a building. And that will bring us to consider the third illustration of the Church and it is that of the Church as a bride. So in your outline you will see we are in main point number 3 of the illustrations of the Church. We have looked at the Church as illustrated as a body and as a building. These are illustrations that help us understand the nature of the Church. Let me remind you once more of what I have said numerous times, and that is that the Church is God's greatest work on earth today, as it has been for the past 2,000 years.