Passages: Matthew 16:18; 1 Peter 5:1–4

God has been very clear from the beginning of the church that Jesus is the real leader. He is the builder of the church. He is the head of the body. He is the chief shepherd. Because of this, the church should do everything it can to love Him, obey Him, and imitate Him.

Passage: 1 Corinthians 13

Church works when people love each other. Not superficially. Not casually. But deeply and passionately. When this sort of love happens in the church, real unity takes place.

Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:12–31

Our bodies have many parts. The eye sees. The ear hears. The mouth speaks. Hands move things. Feet move us. The same is true in the body of Christ. God has sovereignly given different gifts to different people in the life of the church. But where do you belong? How do you fit? What is your role?

Passage: 1 Corinthians 11:17–34

When we serve the bread and juice once a month, it is much more than a time to eat and drink. It is a time we remember the purpose of the cross, what Jesus did in accomplishing our salvation, and why we need to repent of our sins. It serves as a proclamation to everyone that we firmly believe in the substitutionary atonement of our sins. And it serves as the most unifying moment of a church’s life.

Passage: Matthew 3:13–17; 28:19–20; Romans 6:1–14

Jesus commanded His followers as the gospel spreads to baptize new converts. This act of obedience is not some sort of hoop a Christian jumps through to be accepted by Jesus. It is simply a public proclamation that you are identifying with the message and life of Jesus. It is a testimony that Jesus has already accepted you and that you are part of the One Body of Christ.

Passage: 2 Timothy 4:1–4

The preaching of God’s Word takes a bad rap these days. Many people prefer it would be shorter, more entertaining, and certainly more relevant to their life. We preach mainly because it is God’s method of delivering His message to the church. When preachers are faithful in opening the Word of God and explaining the book by telling what it has to say about the lives of the listeners, the words that they lay out for the listeners are exactly what God has to say.

Passage: Acts 6:1–7; 1 Timothy 3:8–13

From time to time, there will come things in the life of the church that will distract the elders from fulfilling their calling of handling the Word of God and prayer. This is why God designed deacons who come alongside of the elders in order to serve and help them with the daily activities of the church.

Passage: Titus 1:5–9

Where does the buck stop? That’s the question that is often asked in the life of any organization. But the problem with that thought is that it assumes dominance, not service. In the church, God has designed that it be led not by one leader, but by a group of godly men who seek to discover the will of Jesus as recorded in His Word.

Passage: Ephesians 4:1–6

There seems to be too many divisions in the church these days. Jesus is not building many churches, but one. One body. One Unified body. The reason this is so often not felt in the church is because we are so quick to put our preferences as more important than others. One Unified Body that puts each other first will always feel the unity Jesus desires for His followers.

Based on the book "Knowledge of the Holy" by A.W. Tozer