Preparation was made by John the Baptist for the gathering of the materials from which Christ would build His church. John was his name and the Baptist is what he was. We find that God named him John in Luke 1:13, "But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John." "The" was not his middle name and Baptist was not his last name. My name is Shawn Berry not Shawn The Berry. However people may properly call me Shawn the Baptist because my name is Shawn and I am a Baptist. This was the case with John. John was his name and the Baptist is what he was. The word that is translated "Baptist" in our English Bibles was translated from a Greek word that means, "one authorized to administer baptism". This properly describes John, because he was the only one authorized at that particular time to administer baptism. God gave this authority to him. John 1:6, "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." John 1:32-33, "And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." John was sent forth with the authority to baptize and to prepare the way for Jesus who would come and build His church. Matthew 3:3, "For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

The first use of the word church is found in Matthew 16:18. Notice that Jesus says, "I will build my church". He did not say, "I have built my church." He did not say, "I am building my church." He specifically said, "I will build my church." What ever you might believe the Lord’s church is you are forced to believe that it did not exist prior to the Lord speaking these words if you believe the word of God.

The second important thing is that Christ said He would build His church upon a certain Rock. There are some that believe that rock was Peter, but this is not the case. Jesus Christ used two totally different words to identify Peter and to identify the Rock upon which He would build His church. He said, "Thou art Peter" and "Peter" is translated from a Greek word that means, "piece of rock like a small pebble". Christ said, "upon this Rock I will build my church." This word "Rock". was translated from a different Greek word that means, "mass of rock" Study of scripture will make it clear that Christ is that Rock upon which He would build His church. The same Greek word is used in other scriptures describing that Rock as being Christ. Romans 9:33, "As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." That Rock on whom we are to believe is Jesus Christ. 1Corinthians 10:4, "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." Obviously the Rock on which Christ would build His church was Himself.

The word "church" that we find in our English Bibles was translated from the original Greek word "ekklesia". The word "ekklesia" was in common use at least 621 years before Christ used it in Matthew 16:18. The word "ekklesia" means assembly. Prior to Christ’s statement in Matthew 16:18 the word "ekklesia" was commonly used in reference to the local assemblies within each Greek city state. These local assemblies were made up of particular individuals and given authority to take care of that particular towns business. So when Christ spoke the words found in Matthew 16:18, "I will build my church (ekklesia)" it had a very distinct meaning to His disciples. They understood it to mean that Christ would organize His own local assembly and give that assembly the authority to carry out His business upon earth. A church is a scripturally organized, local body made up of baptized believers. Some believe that the Lord's church is a universal, invisible body made up of all believers. No where in the Bible do we have the Lord's church described to us as a universal body made up of all believers. We find many things in God's word that describe His church that should clearly teach us that it is a scripturally, organized local body of baptized believers. It is nothing more or less than that. The word "church" is found in our Bibles seventy-six times. In seventy-four of those times the word is describing a scripturally organized, local, body of baptized believers upon earth. Some times we find the reference made to "the church". This is when the word "church" is used in the institutional sense of the word. It is making reference to each local church in general without naming one in particular. An excellent illustration of this particular type of usage can be found in Ephesians 5:23, "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body." Obviously the phrase "the husband" and "the wife" is used in an institutional sense in this particular verse. "The husband" is in reference to any and all husbands yet not naming a particular husband. The word church is used the same way in this verse and other verses where we find it referred to as "the church".

The only exceptions that we find concerning the word "church" in the seventy-six times that it is used in the Bible can be found in Hebrews 12:23 and Acts 7:38. In Hebrews 12:23 we read, "To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect." This passage of scripture is talking about what will be seen in that heavenly Jerusalem at the end of time. You will see the church of the firstborn in that heavenly Jerusalem. At that point and time all of those that made up the scripturally organized, local bodies of baptized believers here upon earth will be gathered together as one local assembly and they will make up the church and bride of Jesus Christ. All of the saved make up the family of God, the elect, the sheep and the kingdom, but not all of the saved are in the church and bride of Christ. There will be many saved people in heaven, but not all of the saved people will be a part of the church and bride of Christ. Only those who were scripturally baptized by proper authority into one of the Lord’s local New Testament churches will be a part of that church and bride of Christ. The only reference of "the church" that we find in scripture which does not describe a local, properly organized, body of baptized believers is found in Acts 7:38, "This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us." There was a church or "ekklesia" in the wilderness, but it was not the church that Jesus Christ started in His earthly ministry. That should seem obvious by reading Matthew 16:18. The church that the Lord Jesus Christ established and built did not exist before He spoke the words of Matthew 16:18. He did not say, "I have built my church". He did not say, "I am building my church." He said, "I will build my church". The church or "ekklesia" in the wilderness is speaking of that assembly that was in the wilderness known as the children of Israel. By some careful Bible study you will find that Israel is the assembly and Bride of God the Father.

Scripture makes it clear that the Lord’s church is a local body of baptized believers that has been properly organized. To believe that the Lord’s church is a universal body made up of all believers would present several problems. The first problem would be that in accordance with Matthew 16:18 one would have to conclude that no one was saved prior to the Lord speaking these words. We know this is not true because scripture makes it very clear that many were saved prior to the speaking of those words. John demanded a profession of salvation before he would administer baptism and this was prior to the words of Matthew 16:18. All of the Old Testament saints were saved prior to the words of Matthew 16:18. Acts 15:10-11 declares the Old Testament saints were saved the same way that we are. "Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." The word "they" in this verse is pointing back to the afore mentioned Old Testament saints. There is only one way of salvation and that way is Jesus Christ. John 14:6, " Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Another problem with believing the Lord's church is a universal body made up of all believers is that in order to do so one would have to believe that you could loose your salvation, which is completely contrary to scripture. In Revelation 2:1-5 God threatens to take away the church at Ephesus’s candlestick. "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." In Revelation 1:20 we are told that the candlestick represents the church. "The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." If the church is a universal body made up of all believers then God was threatening to take away their salvation. That would be completely contrary to scripture (refer to our article on eternal security). I could list more problems, but for the sake of space in this paper I believe the ones listed are sufficient.

The Lord's church is scripturally organized because the Lord organized the first one during His earthly ministry. That church was the church at Jerusalem. The church at Jerusalem sent out Barnabas as a missionary with the scriptural authority to organize a group of baptized believers into a church in Antioch. That church at Antioch sent out Paul and Barnabas as missionaries with scriptural authority to organize several churches on their missionary journeys. Acts 13:1-3, "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." The Holy Spirit called Paul and Barnabas on a missionary journey. The Holy Spirit called upon the church at Antioch to send Paul and Barnabas with that God given authority that God had given His church. Therefore the Holy Spirit sent Paul and Barnabas on that missionary journey by the God given authority of one of the Lord's churches.

Who were the first members of the Lord’s church that He established during His earthly ministry? The apostles were the first individuals that Christ set in His church. 1 Corinthians 12:28, "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." Ephesians 2:20, "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." Christ built His church upon Himself and Christ was the cornerstone. A cornerstone is the first stone that was laid in the building process. All of the other stones that were set in place in a building project were set against the cornerstone. The cornerstone was what all of the other stones would be lined up with. The cornerstone was the pattern to go by as the other stones were put in place. Christ was the chief cornerstone and the next stones that were put in place were the apostles and then prophets. Christ chose these particular individuals out during the early part of His earthly ministry (Matt. 4:18, 4:21). He continued calling these particular men out as He continued His earthly journey. Then in Matthew 10:2 He refers to them as the apostles. Christ placed them in His church as the first stones that would be set against the cornerstone some time between the words spoken in Matthew 16:18 and the words spoken in Matthew 18:17.

The Lord’s church was in existence and properly functioning by the time Christ spoke the words found in Matthew 18:17. "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." You cannot bring it before the church if the church did not exist yet.

Next we find that Christ gave this church a particular commission in Matthew 28:16-20. "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." These are the same eleven the Lord placed in His church as the first members. The Lord gave them authority to carry out His business upon earth which included carrying the gospel (keys of the kingdom) and baptizing born again believers. The Lord promised to be with His church until the end of the church age. The word translated "world" in this verse is a Greek word that means, "age". The age that had been brought into existence and in which we still live is the "church age". The Lord is still with His churches today long after the death of the first eleven members mentioned here.

One of the things God gave His church the authority to do was baptize. No one else was given that authority. No other group or organization was given that authority. No other church was given that authority. Only the Lord's church was given that authority. The scriptural authority to baptize was so important that when Jesus Christ was baptized, He was baptized by the one individual who had been given God's authority to administer baptism. That one man was John the Baptist (Baptist being defined as, "the one with authority to administer baptism"). After the Lord organized His church He gave that church this same authority. We look out today and see many churches, but we only find a few of the Lord's churches. We look and see many that have been baptized, but only a few who have been baptized with scriptural authority. Many of the churches that we see today are men's churches not the Lord's. They were founded by the authority of men and not God. They trace their roots back to a man not back to God. It is not hard to trace back the history of the various different churches and see where they received their authority.

Apostasy began to creep into the churches and that apostasy grew from about the time of 100 AD - 313 AD. Some of the heresy that crept in was salvation by works, baptismal regeneration (believing that baptism saves you), infant baptism, etc. God nor the true churches that remained faithful would not tolerate heresies such as salvation by works, baptismal regeneration and the baptism of infants. Galations 1:6-9 is proof of this, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." This was no small matter and we see these problems creeping in even in Paul's day. God removes the candlestick from churches that fall into such gross heresy. Revelation 2:29, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." Revelation 1:20 tells us what that candlestick represented, "The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." Removing their candlestick meant to remove their authority from being one of the Lord's churches. Remember God gave that authority and He can just as easily take it away. So these churches that turned to apostasy were no longer true churches. They no longer had the authority to carry out the Lord's business, which included the administering of baptism. When someone from one of these apostate churches professed true salvation and presented themselves for membership in one of the Lord's true churches they had to be baptized because the baptism of these apostate churches could not be recognized. They no longer had the authority to administer baptism. The apostate churches then gave us one of our nicknames, "Anabaptist". This meant, "rebaptizers". The apostate churches continued on and around 313 AD the new Roman Emperor by the name of Constantine helped bring about another big change among the apostate churches. He claimed to have a vision of a flaming red cross and on that cross, written in fiery letters, "By this thou shalt conquer". He used this to bring the apostate churches into a union with the Roman Empire. In 313 AD Constantine sent a call to gather the churches. The apostate churches answered this call while the true churches refused. The alliance between the Roman government and the apostate churches was consummated and a hierarchy was formed. Constantine became the new temporary head of this hierarchy (Universal Roman Church). This was the beginning of what we now know as the Catholic Church. Did this new Roman government church have the authority to carry out God's business? Absolutely not!! The apostate churches made up this hierarchy with the Roman government. The Catholic Church continued to grow in number as well as apostasy until 1520, when some of the members thought they had gone to far. A group of people followed Martin Luther in leaving the Catholic Church and they formed their own. It is known today as the Lutheran church. One of several problems with this church is that they have no God given authority nor did the Catholic Church from which they came. In 1534 Henry the 8th withdrew from the Catholic Church and founded the Church of England also known as the Episcopal Church. They too had no God given authority nor did the Catholic Church from which they came. John Calvin withdrew from the Catholic Church in 1536 and founded the Presbyterian Church. In 1739 the Methodist Church came into existence through a society started by John and Charles Wesley from the Episcopal Church. In 1827 Alexander Campbell withdrew from the Presbyterian Church and founded the Christian Church. In 1886 a man by the name of R.G. Spurlin who claimed to be a Baptist left the Baptists to become the founder of the Church of God along with W.F. Bryant who was a Methodist. Let it be noted that R. G. Spurlin did not leave the Baptists with any kind of God given authority to establish a church which we have already shown is necessary in order to organize one of the Lord's churches. In 1906 a group split from the Christian Church and took on the name, "Church of Christ". In 1895 Phineas Bressee left the Methodist Church to become the founder of the Nazarene Church. On and on the list goes. As one can see the church that the Lord Jesus Christ established during His earthly ministry has continued to reproduce down through the ages, as they had been commanded and given the authority to do. One can also see that church is known today by the name Baptist. Not everyone that uses this name is a true Baptist. There are many that use this name that have no authority at all. This authority must be proven by lineage and by doctrine. One should trace their church's authority back to another true Baptist church who gave them the authority to organize. One should not trace their roots back to a man. If the doctrine they practice is apostate one can be sure that their candlestick has been removed if they ever properly had one. All of these other churches have originated through men and came from the apostate churches that made up the Catholic Church or they trace their roots to men who have broken from other groups with no God given authority.