Plug In

Excerpt of Steven Furtick post:  Bonus Tracks: The Blessing of Connection

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Get connected to the body of Christ.

People in society have a very low value on truly being connected. Sadly, those in the church are not much better. With their family. With spiritual leaders. But most of all, with the church.

And that’s sad because there are blessings that flow from being connected to the body of Christ.

You see this so clearly in passages of scripture like Ephesians 4:11-16. It’s a little long, but go ahead and read the whole passage:
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Did you catch that? You can’t truly grow into everything God wants you to be unless you are connected to the local church. It truly is through connection that all the good things of God flow through our lives. There simply is no such thing as a mature Christian who is not vitally connected to the local church.

You must follow Jesus for yourself, but you can’t follow Him by yourself.

So wherever you are, get connected. Stay planted in the house of God. At Elevation. At another church. Wherever.

As I’ve said elsewhere, at the end of your life, God’s not going to be impressed or pleased that you saw what He was doing at ten different churches.He’s going be more pleased that you were a part of what He was doing at one church.

So find one. Plug into it.

And get the blessing of connection.