Devotional - 98-03-15 - What God Has Provided for Us

God has provided a wonderful place for us to get support, worship Him, and use our gifts. Church is that wonderful place, and it needs to be a key ingredient in our lives. There are wonderful opportunities online to minister and be ministered to. However, it's clear that God expects us to be a member of a local body of believers also. Church is where we are to worship, to serve, to fellowship. Let's look at some of what the Bible has to say about this.

(Heb 10:25 NRSV) not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

(Psa 22:22 NRSV) I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

(Psa 111:1 NRSV) Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

(1 Th 5:11 NRSV) Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

(Acts 2:42 NRSV) They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

(Rom 12:13-14 NRSV) Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

(1 Cor 14:26 NRSV) What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

(1 Cor 12:14-27 NRSV) Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many members, yet one body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." ²² On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; ²⁴ whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, ²⁵ that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Jan