What did Christ leave us? Ephesians 4:11-16

 Good morning all. God is good all the time, all the time, God is good!!!  TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED!!

  Just a quick blessing I received.  My 2 youngest grandsons spent the night with us, went to Nerf and Nachos at the church last night, and are playing together today so well.  Yes, our grandchildren have more energy than we do, but so much of a blessing to watch and listen to.  Okay, on to the words for today.

  What did Christ leave us with and what are we to do?  Let's look at Ephesians 4 and take in the word:

  Ephesians 4: 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

  Christ left us to be: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.   WHY?  To equip his people (us) to do work for the Church (the church is you and me).  Christ wants us all, Christians, to all reach unity in faith.  What does unity in faith really mean?  It does not mean Methodist, Baptist, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, non-denominaional, or any others.  Unity is the one thing we all have in common and that is JESUS CHRIST!!

  The next step is to mature in our love and knowledge of Jesus Christ.  With the end goal of becoming as Christ like as possible.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.                         Once we start moving more toward maturity we won't be wishy-washy in our beliefs.  This means we stand strong on the word of GOD, and boldly proclaim the true word of Christ.  When someone comes in with a different "rule" or "philosophy", we test it with the Bible and either rebuke or accept.  We cannot be as waves in the ocean tossed left and right by however the wind blows.   Then, we all need to realize each one of us, you and me, are parts of the body and cannot be whole unless all parts are there and work together.  

It is important we great all this in love and not with anger and my way is the only way.  Jesus did much in 3 years and he stood boldly on the word as we must do.  We have more years on earth than did HE, and we must be about HIS work.  

Thank you for listening. Love you all.

In Christ's Love and Grace

Johnny