Finding and Flourishing in Your Place in the ChurchParaugs

THE PLANTING OF THE BELIEVER

Ministry is the thing you are doing that is contributing directly or indirectly to what God is doing in your day. You get involved in the Church in either of two ways: directly as a local church member or indirectly as an officer (like apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) in the global church.

The entire Body of Christ is made up of local churches. As I have explained before, a local church is locatable and localized somewhere. Nobody can be a member of the Body of Christ directly. You are a member of the Body of Christ through a local church. There is nobody that can say, “Jesus is my Pastor, Holy Ghost is my Guide.” You have to be planted in a local assembly that you are part of; a place where you are accountable under the custody of a pastor. Just as being a member of a battalion offers protection in the natural army, the local church is the battalion that a sheep of Jesus must belong to for victory in destiny.

People who say they are not following a man but following Jesus are not speaking the truth. You cannot follow a God that you do not see until you learn to follow a man that you can see. The Bible is plain on this principle. John said if someone says he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen (1 Joh. 4:20).

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, water me where the Father has planted me. I will blossom and bud and fill the face of the earth with fruits in Jesus’ name. Amen!