Monday, July 18, 2022 Some material taken from Everyday Ministers
For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Matthew 25:35-36
The Work of the Body
What does church mean to you? Is it a social club or a place you come just to get your needs met, and then go home? I have heard all my life that the church is not the building. The church is the people, the body of believers. Church is a place where we can find fellowship and get our needs met – sometimes physical needs, prayer, and education to help us grow in our relationship with Christ. But if that is where it ends, then we will become stagnant in our growth.
We are called to “fishers of men” not “keepers of the boat. " Van Houser
We can learn and grow but if we are not careful, we can become like a plant that has outgrown the pot it is in. It can only grow so much before its growth is stunted by the pot or it dies. We can grow and continue to learn but there is more. When we go out and put the things we have learned into practice, our faith grows so much more. There is fruit.
A believer who does not seek to perform the mission of the church never truly understands what they possess in Christ and who they are in Him. – Van Houser
As believers we often fail to see the gifts we have been given, and Satan works hard to conceal them and make us feel completely unworthy and incapable of serving in any capacity. We are all broken in some way and God uses us in our brokenness and unworthiness because only in Him are we worthy and whole. We were never supposed to go in our own power, but in His power.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20
We were meant to take His word, the gospel, outside the walls of the church. We are to be His hands and His feet to the world. We will be equipped inside the walls of the church, but we can only make a difference when we take all that we have been equipped with outside the walls to the world. Being His hands and feet is the manifestation of His love through our actions to the world. It is love in action, not just empty words. Don’t stunt your growth by settling into a comfortable seat in the church. Go and teach. Go and serve. Take Jesus to the world because they are seeking and yearning for the answer, and you can introduce them to what they are looking for.
