The church occupies a place of tremendous importance in the mind of Christ, and it should be extremely important in our estimation as well.We sense its importance by the prominent space it occupies in the New Testament. Also it claimed a significant place in the ministry of the apostles. Paul, for instance, spoke of his twofold ministry - to preach the Gospel and to declare the truth of the church (Ephesians 3:8-9). The apostles spoke of the church with an enthusiasm that is strangely missing today. Everywhere they went they planted churches, whereas the tendency today is to start Christian organizations.The truth of the church formed the capstone of scriptural revelation (Colossians 1:25-26). It was the last major doctrine to be revealed.The church is an object lesson to angelic beings (Ephesians 3:10). They learn lessons from it about the multifaceted wisdom of God.The church is the unit on earth through which God has chosen to propagate and defend the faith (1 Timothy 3:15). He speaks of it as the pillar and ground of the truth. We are thankful for para-church organizations that are devoted to the spread of the Gospel and the instruction of believers, but it is a mistake when they take the place of the local church in their members' lives. God promised that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the church (Matthew 16:18), but He never gave that promise to Christian organizations.Paul speaks of the church as the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:20-23). In marvelous grace, the Head does not consider Himself complete without His members.The church is not only the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-13); it is His bride as well (Ephesians 5:25-27<a href="javascript:%7B%7D" style="text-decoration:underline ;">; </a>Ephesians 5:31-32). As the body it is the vehicle through which He chooses to express Himself to the world in this era. As the bride, it is the special object of His affection which He is preparing to share His reign and His glory.From all the above, we are forced to conclude that the weakest assembly of believers means more to Christ than the greatest empire in the world. He speaks of the church in terms of tender endearment and unique dignity. We also conclude that an elder in a local assembly means more to God than a president or a king. Few instructions are found in the New Testament on how to be a good ruler, but considerable space is devoted to the work of an elder.If we once see the church as the Lord sees it, it will revolutionize our life and ministry.

With reverence, humor and skill, William MacDonald wove a daily devotional tapestry that challenges the reader to think deeply and Biblically, and apply God's Word to their lives.

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

"Christ… loved the church and gave himself for it." (Ephesians 5:25)

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3 NIV)
The new creation is a company, it is a 
Body indwelt by the Holy Spirit, actuated by the Holy Spirit, actually made one 
by the Holy Spirit. “In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body” (1 
Cor. 12:13). The oneness is the oneness of the Holy Spirit. “Giving diligence 
to keep the unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3), not to make it but to keep it. 
A new creation.
Well now, of course that is just the key that 
opens the door to everything when you see what new creation Life means. And with 
that you introduce the whole matter of the proper order, the proper regulated 
order of heavenly Life. Heavenly Life is according to heavenly law. It is not 
lawless. Each member of this body is not a law unto himself or herself. We are 
bound by this integrating, regulating law, that we are not allowed to be 
independent. Here the Holy Spirit forbids it. We are not allowed to take the law 
into our own hands. We are not allowed to act as individuals; the Holy Spirit 
will not allow it. There is a regulating order with this Life. This Life expresses 
itself according to its own laws, as life does in every part of the organic 
creation. It follows its own lines. That part of the creation follows the laws 
of the life which it possesses, and this is the Life of the Spirit, and you have 
not to organize or systematize this. Immediately you begin to do it, you bring 
death in. It is as fatal to try and make a New Testament church after the New 
Testament pattern as it is to have no pattern at all! It can be deathly to do 
that. The thing happens if the Life has its way. We have learned this, yet, much 
as we know about the truth, we are still so much governed by our own natural 
life, even in our spiritual activities. There is disorder and running before the 
Spirit. However, we are all in the school, and we are just stating the laws, the 
principles and the truth that here you have no need to go and organize something on 
a New Testament basis. It will come about if the Holy Spirit is really having 
His way in terms of Life.

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.

Open Windows

The Testimony of the Christ - Chapter 7

 The Testimony of the Christ 

Wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) into My name, there I AM in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20 AMP)
Jesus, as the Truth, is 
contrasted with Satan, the liar. But He is also contrasted with all 
representations, types, symbols, outward forms, etc., which were – and are – not 
the true, the real. When our Lord spoke of His body as the Temple, deliberately 
refraining from the fuller explanation because of the fixed prejudice of His 
hearers, He introduced the great truth of the transition from one dispensation 
to another, and the complete change in the nature of temple and worship. It was 
because Stephen saw this and declared it that he was murdered by these very 
people. Said he: "The Most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands" (Acts 
7:48). Paul said the same to the Athenians (Acts 17:24). This does not mean that 
God never came into representations when they wholly corresponded with His 
thought. Both the Tabernacle and the Temple were "made with hands" and God came 
into them in power and glory, but not to commit Himself to the thing. The 
time came when He forsook both and He was no longer found there. They were only 
temporary representations and His presence was conditional. 

The "true 
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man" (Hebrews 8:2) is "not of this 
creation." The whole Letter to the Hebrews has to do with this change from the 
earthly and temporal to the heavenly and spiritual. Hence, He is no longer in 
"temples made with hands." To come right to the point: the New Testament teaches 
that the Temple in this dispensation is a Person, and persons incorporated into 
Him through death, burial and resurrection, and "baptized into one body by one 
Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13). We must also remember that Jesus foretold the 
passing away of that entire temporal system, with Jerusalem as its center and 
representation. With His foreknowledge of the 
passing of the earthly, temporal and material things; places, systems, fixed 
locations, and outward forms, the Lord Jesus put the whole matter of survival 
upon Himself as the constituent of a spiritual structure against which 
the very powers of hell would not prevail. Against fixed localizing and 
systematizing of Himself and His presence He was emphatic, and history is 
evidence of how right He was. If, according to John 3:16, salvation is a matter 
of "whosoever," the Lord's presence and true worship, according to Matthew 
18:20, is "wheresoever."

The Dispensation of the Holy Spirit - Chapter 2

 The True Temple 

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. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. § That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. §  Jesus spoke these words. . . . “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us.”

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Evening Daily Light

 Fellowship in the gospel. 

<blockquote>  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (<a id="verse_1632877877707210" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/3/27">Gal. 3:27</a>).</blockquote>The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the Lord Jesus, and fills us with Him."The one spiritual baptism positions the believer in Christ' (<a id="verse_1632877877949291" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/6/3">Rom. 6:3</a>; <a id="verse_1632877877893115783" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/6/4">4</a>; <a id="verse_1632877877864792" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/3/27">Gal. 3:27</a>; <a id="verse_1632877877139523" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/2/12">Col. 2:12</a>), and into His Body (<a id="verse_1632877877855736" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/1-Corinthians/12/13">1 Cor. 12:13</a>). Since this position in the Lord Jesus is unchangeable, and eternal, the baptizing work of the Spirit is not repeatable. One in Christ' positionally, can never again through all eternity be out of Christ' positionally, as that position depends wholly upon the efficacy of the finished redemptive work of the Son, and does not hinge upon human merit or faithfulness."The filling with the Spirit, on the other hand, is repeatable (<a id="verse_1632877877851947" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Acts/2/4">Acts 2:4</a>; <a id="verse_1632877877776799829" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Acts/2/4">4</a>:8, 31; 9:17), and is, in fact, a continuous process, as it conditions mutable experience, and has nothing whatever to do with immutable position. Christian position is effected by the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of the new birth. Christian experience is affected by the filling with the Holy Spirit. One effects our position, the other affects our condition." -M.U."The Holy Spirit gives a living knowledge; His light is the light of life; He is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' We see the Father and the Son as seeing us. When we behold them by the ministry of the Spirit it is as beholding us with infinite love, and bestowing upon us the blessings of grace. We know because we are known. Thou Father, Thou Son, seest me' is the immediate consciousness of the soul, when there is spiritual perception of the Father. In other words, love, petition, listening to the Father's voice, receiving the love and peace of the Lord Jesus, fellowship, are invoked in this knowledge." -A.S."The communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (<a id="verse_1632877877860911" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/13/14">2 Cor. 13:14</a>).

A 365 day devotional that will help you in your Christian growth and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This devotional is a collection of quotes from some of the best authors in the realm of Christian growth that has been organized by Miles J Stanford.  This devotional study is divided into 12 sections each containing 31 daily portions.

None but the Hungry Heart

 Baptized Into-Filled With 

13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

For we were all baptized<cr>1</cr> by<ft>1</ft> one Spirit<cr>2</cr> so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free<cr>3</cr> —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.<cr>4</cr>

1 Corinthians 12:13

 13 For we were all baptized   by  one Spirit   so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free  —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 For we were all baptized  by one Spirit  so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 

For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

 For we were all baptized   by  one Spirit   so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free  —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  

Bible Verse of the Day

February 15, 2017

1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

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