'That fact should make us burst out in spontaneous applause.'
Frankly, that fact should make us burst out in spontaneous applause.
The apostle Paul uses the analogy of the body to articulate what it means to be a church. Think about your body (do I have to?) -- what a miracle it is. I'm not a doctor, but I know you have over 200 bones in your body, 650 skeletal muscles, 210 cell types. You have many different cooperative systems in your body -- circulatory, digestive, lymphatic, urinary, endocrine, muscular, nervous, immune, reproductive, skeletal, respiratory -- and they all work with such little notice that we miss the absolute wonder of how the human anatomy operates together for a singular purpose and cause, until all of a sudden you have a sickness or an injury.
And Paul says: 'So it is with the church.' When it's functioning appropriately, there's nothing like it.
Dwell in unity.
And be blessed.
1 comment:
I loved your message on Unity tonight. I've always looked at Journey Church as family. Even though I was a "wayward" daughter for a while, my friends still loved me through it all. The diversity in our church is a treasure.
I was recently reminded of a song from when I was a young girl. It was a Coca-Cola commercial and the song was "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing". It showed people from every race all joined together singing. It was a beautiful sea of faces. One of those things that stays with you over the years.
When you speak of the miracle of our human bodies I can't begin to imagine how those who don't believe cannot see God's hand in it.
My daughter is expecting my third grandchild and to see her and know that she is creating a life is amazing. Seeing the sonogram and seeing the little outline of the baby inside is such a wonder. In November we will have a new addition to our family.
Psalm 139 is my favorite Psalm:
Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
I love knowing that God has always known me even before I was born and He knows everything about me now, too. He knit each one of us together in our Mother's womb.
We are right where He brought us to be. I know He most definitely led me to Journey Church and I am so glad He did.
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