“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16 ESV)
We who believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, are the body of Christ, his church. We who believe in Jesus are the one and only universal church. But we don’t all live in the same locations and so we meet in various places throughout the world. But we are still all one church, and we are all of the same body, the body of Christ.
Also, when we believe in Jesus Christ with God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God comes within us and he takes up residence in our lives. And so we now have God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – living within us teaching, encouraging, warning, counseling, comforting, and guiding us in the way that we should go and in the things that God has for us to do. And so he has gifted us all with Spiritual gifts to be used within the body to exhort and to urge one another in the faith.
Now as parts of the body of Christ, we do not all have the same functions (roles, parts) and gifts. For God made us all different. But we are all important to the proper working of the body of Christ, and we are all necessary, if we are walking with the Lord and if we are being led by the Spirit in the use of the gifts and the ministries to which God has assigned us individually. For this has to be the working of the Spirit in our lives, and this cannot be of our flesh, for the body to function as God intended.
Now God uses some of the members of the body to equip the rest of us for the work of the ministry. But this “equipping” is of the Spirit, and it has to do with spiritually getting us ready for the work of the ministry to which we are called of God to do. So this has nothing to do with church programs and church seminars that are created in the minds of humans who are trying to market the “church” to the world in order to grow their businesses. But this is really about discipleship and learning to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
And, in truth, all of us who claim to be in Christ are to be the Lord’s disciples who are making more disciples of Christ of other people, so this is not something that just a few people do, but it is what all of us are supposed to be doing. And so we are all to be exhorting one another so that we are not led astray by sin’s deceitfulness. And we are all to be teaching one another and speaking the truth in love to one another so that we are warned against false teachings, and so that we all grow together to maturity in Christ.
[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]
Draw Me Close To You
Donnie McClurkin
Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend
You are my desire
And no one else will do
'Cause nothing else can take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find a way
Bring me back to You
Bring me back, oh Jesus
You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnwBixzuNo
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