Well, good morning, brothers and sisters.
When I last shared a couple of months ago, I talked about the body of Christ—what the body is and what the body does. It came to my attention, through the sharing of a couple of brothers and sisters and also through the Lord, that I had failed to share one very important thing: how the body functions.
We know what the body does, and we know what it is, but what is the life of the body? How does it accomplish what the Lord has set out for it?
I started meditating on this and seeking the Lord. In some daily Bible study and reading, I ran across this verse. It is in Leviticus 17:14, the first part:
For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life.
It just kind of stuck with me. I said, “Well, Lord, what are You trying to show? What are You trying to home in on? How are You trying to make application with this?”
As I prayed and studied, the Lord opened up some things to me. One I am going to focus on this morning is going to be kind of a departure, because it was a departure for me. I figured the Lord was going to talk about the blood of Jesus Christ. I thought the Lord would show me something of that nature, but the Lord took me in a little bit of a different direction.
Primarily, what I am going to be sharing from is Genesis 1 and 2. You can put your finger in that section of Scripture, and also flip over to Acts 1 and 2, because that is where we are going to be going.
Before we get any further, though, let us commit our time and the Word to the Lord.
Father, we are so thankful that our life does not depend on ourselves. Lord, it depends on You. Lord, You are the One with the words of life. So, Lord, we trust in You.
We commit this time unto You, Lord, that You will really share words of life unto us. Lord, we thank You for Your blessing. Lord, we thank You for Your life. In Your name we pray. Amen.
As I said, I looked at this curious little verse: as for the life of all flesh, it is in the blood, and the blood identifies life. I started meditating on this and asking the Lord, “Well, what does this mean? How does it apply to Your body? What is the lifeblood of Your body, Lord? How does it function today?”
As I said, it kind of took me off guard. The Lord took me into Genesis. I am going to read a couple of verses that summarize where we are going, and then we will get into the detail.
In Genesis 2:7, it says:
Then the Lord formed man out of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living being.
Then, over in Acts 2:1-4, it says:
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind,
and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves,
and they rested on each one of them.
And they were filled with the Holy Spirit,
and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
I was considering this before the Lord, and I was like, “Show me what You are saying to the church, Lord. Show me what You are trying to tell me about life.”
There are a couple of things, as I started meditating on these verses, that the Lord opened up to me. First of all, there is this concept of the structure of life.
You know, we try to structure life. We try to figure out what to do with it. But there was a plan for life, and there is a plan for life that the Lord has for the body.
In the beginning, in Genesis 1:26-27, He said:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”
God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.
I said, “Lord, that is true. You created man. You gave him the very image of Yourself. You created him a triune being: body, soul, and spirit. But how does that apply to the church today? What does that have to do with the life that we are supposed to have?”
The Lord led me to Colossians 1:15:
He, speaking of Jesus, is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
I said, “He is the image of God. That is Jesus Christ. He is the image of God.”
In Romans 8:28-30, it says:
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good
to those who love