'The Pain Of Being A Servant's Child.'
Genesis 33:1-2.
a) Then, far in the distance,
b) Jacob saw Esau coming
c) With his 400 men.
d) Jacob now arranged his family into a column:
1-Concubines and their children at the head. (Nearest to potential danger)
2-Leah and her children.
3-Rachel and Joseph.
(This QT teaches me The Pain Of Being A Servant's Child)
PRAY: For the children of 'ordinary' people in your Church and locality.
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'A Part Of The One Body Of Christ.'
1 Corinthians 12:13.
a) Each of us us a part
b) Of The One Body of Christ.
c) Some of us are Jews,
d) Some are Gentiles,
e) Some are slaves, (employed working people)
f) Some are free.
g) But the Holy Spirit
h) Has fitted us all together into one Body.
i) We have been baptized into Christ's Body
j) By the One Spirit,
k) And have all been given that same Holy Spirit.
(This Second one shows me that each of us is A Part Of The One Body Of Christ)
PRAY: For the Body of Christ which we are a part of to function well - a healthy Body.
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Chris.
Every True Believer is a Part Of The One Body Of Christ. The Body of Christ in the City are the God and Gospel-centered Churches in that City. The same principle stands for the township and the village. If Churches are going to grow in a healthy way, they do not 'compete' with other Churches, rather, they simply function as in Acts 2:42.
There is a 'release' that comes when the Church catches the vision of the Body of Christ. The first, and very important, step is to acknowledge, accept and love other Churches in the locality - we are not in competition against them! After acknowledging, accepting should follow, we receive one another in love.
There are many positive things that can happen when the Body of Christ begins to function in a healthy way.
From my own experience, when I was a young minister, the small suburban Church that I served was also voluntarily linked with other Churches in the City through an active and positive Pastors' Fellowship. This, until now, brings me many blessed and happy memories.
There was no 'competition' between Pastors, no-one asked: "How many people do you get on a Sunday?" We just accepted each other, sharing and praying together. Of course, the Lord was pleased and the Churches grew. There was co-operation together with other Churches and not competition between the Churches. We helped each other in many ways, attempting to lead our Churches into fresh life in the Holy Spirit without competition, division or suspicion.
If this is going to happen in our Churches today, inter-church 'competition' needs to be rejected. We need to pray for our fellow Believers in the locality, whichever Church they worship at and to pray for all Churches in our City, Town, or locality, to grow healthily.
We also need to step back and challenge ourselves and our local Church with the question: "What Is A Healthy Local Church?"
