CURRENT RADIO SERIES Eternity Now   CURRENT TV SERIES Songs of Courage

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. -- Romans 9:2 The greatest investment in life you can make is in another soul. If you are a believer, you are charged with sharing the message of Jesus Christ with passion and compassion. The apostle Paul is a great example for us to follow. As you can see in today’s verse, his heart was broken for those who did not know Jesus Christ.  As a result of this, Paul moved beyond his borders to share Jesus. Paul was actually grief stricken by the possibility that someone would spend eternity separated from God. You and I are called by God to reach out to others with that same compassion. The fact is that if we don’t have a compassion for telling others about Jesus Christ, our own spirit is in serious condition. You and I should never become casual about soul-winning. We can never get comfortable in our pew, our classroom, and our lifestyle. So often in the book of Acts, Paul begins sharing his faith by telling his personal testimony. He begins with his own experience of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul never got over his salvation. He couldn’t believe that God would love him so much and spent the rest of his days telling others what Jesus had done for him. Are you overwhelmed by the love of Christ in your life? Do you really comprehend what Jesus did for you? If so, you will want to share with others your experience.  THINK ABOUT WHERE JESUS HAS BROUGHT YOU FROM, AND SHARE IT WITH ANOTHER PERSON THIS WEEK. Thursday, January 10, 2019 Individuals, but Not Isolated by Dr. Paul Chappell “For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body.” 1 Corinthians 12:14-20 Dr. Paul Brand, who was born to missionary parents in India and later went there for nearly twenty years of ministry as a medical doctor working with leprosy patients, wrote about the use of the Bible’s analogy of the church to a human body. Brand said, “The Body of Christ, like our own bodies, is composed of individual, unlike cells that are knit together to form one body. The joy of the body increases as individual cells realize they can be diverse without becoming isolated outposts.” Statistics say that between 60 and 100 churches close every week in the United States. While some of these are churches that long ago turned away from Bible truth, others were churches that preached the truth but for one reason or another failed to continue and grow. One of the major problems is self-focus. We live in an increasingly isolated society. Despite all the connections made possible by social media, many people are actually lonely in real life. They are missing the meaningful connections they need, and this can be true in the church as well. It is vitally important for us to truly care for each other. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ”(Galatians 6:2). Today’s Growth Principle:  Each of us have a duty to care for the needs and burdens of our fellow church members.