Pray the word with David Platt as a resource from Radical.net.

1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 27,

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

I'm guessing many of you have heard this verse before or certainly this imagery

from the New Testament of the church as the body of Christ.

But I want you to let this soak in, almost as if this is the first time you're hearing this,

that God describes the church as the body of Jesus with all these different parts

or members in the verses right before verse 27 and 1 Corinthians 12.

We see the body described in terms of an eye and a foot and a hand and all of these

different members are necessary. The Bible says that I cannot say to the hand, I don't need you

or the head to the feet. I don't need you. Every part of the body is extremely important.

And so I want to encourage you in a fresh way today with this reality in your life.

You are a follower of Jesus. If you put your trust in Jesus, his Holy Spirit dwells in you.

When you came to Christ, you became a part of the body of Christ and you are a

needed part of the body, which is why you need to be a member in a local body of Christ

in a local church. Like, yes, there's a sense in which this is true, just of the universal

church for every follower of Jesus in the world. We are part of the church, not just in the world

today, but in history, those who've gone before us and who are now in heaven at the same time.

How are you going to play out your part in the body of Christ if you are disconnected from

the church on earth and specifically a church where you are caring for other members,

where you are building up other members, where you are using 1 Corinthians 12, the first part

of this chapter, the spiritual gifts that God has given you for the building up of the body.

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