- I am the vine; you are the branches.
- If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;
- apart from me you can do nothing.
- ......
The Body Of Christ - The Church - Part 5
1. For those of us still living in this world and are a part of the Body of Christ, our physical body is in the world, but our spiritual body is living in the Kingdom of God! When you live in the Kingdom of God, you are living in the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is living in you. Living in the Body of Christ allows you to see what God wants you to see with your spiritual eyes, hear what God wants you to hear with your spiritual ears, and so on. This is what it is to live and enjoy the Fruit of the Spirit! We are also told to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25), which is to fulfill Jesus’ commission for us to go out into a lost and dying world to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20) because we are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) and the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)!
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
2. Let us never forget that the Body of Christ, the Church, functions because of God doing His work, and His work overflows with love for us, where love is described in 1 Corinthians 13. We are not able, in our physical (natural) body, to understand how much God loves us, which is why He strengthens us with power through His Spirit in our inner being (our spirit) so that Jesus can live in our hearts by our faith in Him (Ephesians 3:16-17b). Only when we are in the Body of Christ (all the saints) and filled with God’s power may we understand how wide, long, high, and deep the love of Jesus is that passes all knowledge (Ephesians 3:17b-19).
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
3. Acts 2:42-47 is a beautiful model of what the Body of Christ, the Church, is doing before the second coming of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. God loves to grow His Church and will add to His Church, the Body of Christ, when He wants to. Let us praise, worship, enjoy and celebrate God with thanksgiving! Why? For doing His ‘working’ with the gifts, He has given us! For doing His ‘working’ with the positions, He has placed us in! Again we ask, Why? So that we can serve Him in the Body of Christ through faith in Jesus! Let us also celebrate how God daily adds to the Body of Christ, His Church!
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
4. God Loves the world so much that He sent His one and only Son into the world to save those of us who believe in Him. Jesus paid the price for the world’s sins by dying for us on the cross. Three days later, He rose from the dead and was given all authority in heaven and on earth! Living and walking in the Body of Christ is most beautiful because you experience heaven while in the world! This is the free gift of Salvation for anyone wanting to have Jesus as Lord and Savior of their life! When Jesus comes back a second time, He will be coming back for the Body of Christ, His Church, who is His Bride! With the removal of the Body of Christ, there will be chaos in the world as never before because the Holy Spirit, our Helper, will also be removed. (2 Thessalonians 2:5-7).
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.