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The Body of Christ

I Corinthians 12:12 states: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also [is] Christ."

I am meeting with some people in the church who have initiated contact with me separately from each other about their own passion for evangelism. I have been preparing a resource for this meeting, part of which is this diagram of the Body of Christ. I don't know whether it would be valuable to you in your ministry and understanding of things, but I thought it would help us tonight.

Tuesday, Aug 31

This morning, I had prayer with Mr. Charlie Satterfield, who I'm told is our oldest male church member. He fell over the weekend and broke his hip, and is being moved today down toward the coast closer to his daughter. Charlie is well known for his sense of humor, and even today, a care specialist said, "Behave, Mr. Satterfield." He pointed to me and said, "I have to - my preacher's standing right there." We all had a good, hearty laugh.

In my devotions this morning, I studied Romans 1:2. As Dr. Stephen Olford said, "Before you can master the Word, the Word has to master you." I am going to be taking our church family through Romans on Sunday night's beginning this week. It is important to me to study the word devotionally to apply it to my own life first.

In reading this truth-filled verse, several things are amazing to me. God promised this salvation that we who have trusted Christ enjoy long in advance; and He delivered on that promise. The prophets He used to speak this message were His prophets. That possession is significant. This advance promise is recorded for us in the Scriptures, or writings. They are not just writings, but holy writings - the Holy Scriptures. There is nothing holy about erroneous writings; therefore, to the chagrin of our CBF folks, the Bible actually does claim inerrancy for itself (let alone the divine origin of this revelation).

It is humbling to look in the mirror and realize that God has called you and me to be ambassadors for Christ with the message of reconciliation, pleading with the lost around us to "Be reconciled to God." I can hardly wait for tonight when I will sit down with some of our people who have approached me about what we can do for outreach in our great church.

The greatest days of FBC Stanley are ahead as we maintain a proper focus on the fact that He has separated us unto the Gospel - no other task, no other initiative, no other program. Not a focus on ourselves, but on those outside the fold.

With love,

Pastor Billy