Cells of the Same Body

"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dewelleth not in temples made with hands" (Acts 17:24)

Church members may by necessity be scattered over the surface of the earth and separated... but in every true member of the Church is the homing instinct and the longing of the sheep for the fold and the Shepherd.

Give a few real Christians half a chance and they will get together and organize and plan regular meetings for prayer and worship. They will hear the Scriptures expounded, break bread together in one form or another according to their light, and try as far as possible to spread the saving gospel to the lost world.

Such groups are cells in the Body of Christ, and each one is a true Church, a real part of the greater Church. It is in and through these cells that the Spirit does His work on earth. Whoever scorns the local church scorns the Body of Christ.

The Holy Spirit's presence with the Church is better than the continued physical presence of the Lord Jesus would have been. For it is an internal and not an external presence and equally accessible to all God's people.

~A. W. Tozer~

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Free From the Flesh

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2)

When the Holy Spirit is ignored or rejected, religious people are forced either to do their own creating or to fossilize completely. A few churches accept fossilization as the will of God and settle down to the work of preserving their past - as if it needed preserving. Others seek to appear modern, and imitate the current activities of the world with the mistaken idea that they are being creative. And after a fashion they are, but the creatures of the creative skill are sure to be toys and trifles, mere imitations of the world and altogether lacking in the qualities of eternity - holiness and spiritual dignity. The hallmark of the Holy Spirit is NOT there.

It is hard to imagine a more painful disillusionment than to come to the judgment seat of Christ and find that all our earthly lives we had been striving after the flesh and never permitting the creative Holy Spirit to work in us that which was pleasing in His sight.

There is a way of release from the tyranny of the flesh. It is by the Cross of Jesus. That ends the bondage of the flesh. The power to live free from it comes from the Holy Spirit.

~A. W. Tozer~