First Baptist Church of Palos Verdes

First Baptist Church

28 Moccasin Lane
Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274
Phone: 310-378-1253
Email: FirstBaptistPV@yahoo.com

Sunday
Mornings at
11:00AM

The heart of

is love...

Read
through
the Bible
this year!!

THE CHURCH IS A BODY

When we reconnect with the head, the body begins to live again. That life is found in being the body of Jesus Christ.

Paul tells us about the nature of the local church, of which each follower of Jesus is a member.

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one
Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For
in fact the body is not one member but many. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NKJV)

Selfishness and self-centeredness, called individuality in the United States, is the death-blow to God’s Kingdom work. Learning the lessons of
this passage helps us rediscover God’s design and our place in this life on Earth as a disciple of Jesus.

The church is a body – the body of Christ. Many are surprised to learn that they are a part of a much bigger organism, Jesus’ body.
While the church is often looked at as an institution or even a social club, the fact is that it lives and breathes. As a body it works in
combination with the millions of other parts to accomplish and carry out the will of the head, Jesus Christ!
The church is made up of many members. Like cells in a body, the church consists of many pieces or parts. You and I are some of those
pieces. Every piece is vital to the body – think of living without your thumb or heart! As you contemplate these truths, think of the
importance you have to every other person within the local body.
The church of many members is a unity. While there are so many of us, we are all vital. So many times our selfishness says things like,
“They will never miss me.” How foolish! We miss every individual that doesn’t stay close to the local body of Jesus. While the church may
not run after a missing person, it is sure they feel the loss. There is a lack of ease – a dis-ease – within the congregation when people
are missing. Just as our physical bodies struggle when sick, yet we do not know the cause, so our local body of Jesus is hampered when
all of its members do not work together for its growth and health!
The church is a spiritual body. The primary purpose of the body of Jesus in our community is to bring health and healing to the souls of
all people there. We are to bring the Good News of Jesus’ sacrifice so that souls can be atoned for and converted to life from death. We
are to nourish those souls, once alive, so they grow into and transform to become more Christ-like. Finally we are to work together to
accomplish the heart and will of Jesus as a team, a unit, His body. We are His hands and feet, to touch and take the unfailing love of God
to every person we meet in our community!

This magnificent body of Jesus Christ is His physical representation on Earth! We – you and your brothers and sisters in your faith
community – are the living breathing body of Jesus. This is the only Jesus the unredeemed will ever see, until they come to faith and
stand in front of Him one day for all eternity. We can bring the passionate compassion and mercy to those around us - when we work
together!

© 2007 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith. All rights reserved.

How Does God Bring About Personal Transformation in the Local Church? (Part 2)

The Body of Jesus Christ exists to bring the Good News of God’s love to everyone who resides within our local community! As members of that
body, we are to individually and corporately experience God’s transforming power so that we can work together to
accomplish the will and heart of Jesus Himself.

TRANSFORMATION ON A CHURCH-WIDE SCALE

Since transformation is the renewing of the mind to prove the will of God, then bringing transformation to a local church requires the local
church to become the body of Christ. In an age of individuality (read: self-centeredness), the church runs counter to our culture.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)

Paul shows us that personal transformation is the stuff of local church transformation. Notice the progression that must happen if a local church
is to experience and prove the will of God for their community.

Individual members take responsibility to be transformed. No one can make the decisions necessary to follow Christ except you. And
when you choose to walk with God, when you allow Jesus the Lordship of leadership in your life, God changes your heart! Day-by-day,
choice by choice, we are transformed into the image of Jesus.
Each member who is transformed creates a greater potential for the health to the entire body. There is little doubt that the church in the
USA is sick. Diminishing attendance, few conversions and sparse adult baptisms all show the real condition of the church. However, there
is a cure to this epidemic of spiritual death. Step by step, person by person the health of the local church grows as more and more
individuals walk with God and experience the personal changes He brings.
As the numbers of individual transformed members increases, greater health and vitality come to the church. Your contribution to your
local church can mean all the difference in your community. You see, as you change by being in God’s presence, you have something
that is contagious. Sharing God’s work in your life with others – maybe by just gathering them together each week and allowing God to
work in your midst can spread this transforming love of God. As you branch out and reach even more, the health of your church grows –
one by one God transforms more and more of His body, your local church. With each metamorphosis, the total health of the local church
increases greatly.
When the leadership, the influencers and the majority of members are spiritually transformed, the church is able to …

Prove the will of God for their faith community. Remember the end of transformation is to “prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.” This is the solution to the sickness that pervades American churches. When we boil down all the information on
church demise, we must come to the logical conclusion that His church has stepped away from the will of God. When we regain God’s
direction and guidance (natural results of walking in His presence and being transformed) as a local church, life and health, growth and
vitality come as well.
Execute the will of God in their local community. Once God begins to work in the lives of a majority of His people, they band together to
fulfill His heart and will. God’s greatest desire is to draw His lost children back to Himself. When we walk with Him, His passion becomes
our passion once again. Like scales falling from our eyes, the sleep of our selfishness clears into the light of God’s love for humanity.
People we never even gave a second thought to now take center stage on our heart. As we follow the inclinations of God’s heart, we
seek out ways to reach those we rub shoulders with every day. Such redemptive relationships have at their core the desire to see these
people with Christ, knowing the joy we have in Him.
Accomplish the will of God within their whole community. As our local church grows healthy and our local community begins to respond to
the Good News of Jesus’ love, God’s heart rejoices. As long as we, as a local church, continue to stay close and allow God to transform
our heart God’s will continues to flow.

Transformation on a body-wide scale like this is not only possible, it is the norm for the spiritually minded church. As you seek God’s face and
spread God’s grace the local church grows and glorifies God in the process!

© 2007 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith. All rights reserved.