Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

I like guns. I have always liked guns. I suppose a lot of that started with all the western movies and TV shows I saw as a kid.
 
I have never been able to have as many guns as I wanted. But, I can read about them. Despite having qualified in the Marine Corps, my knowledge of guns, ballistics, bullets, revolver vs automatic, holster types and advantages, etc. was miniscule. I began reading gun magazines. I did not understand all that I read. I did not really know enough on most topics to separate the wheat from the chaff among the articles I read. I just read and read and somehow I learned a few things. Some magazines never say anything negative about any firearm. They are “owned” by their advertisers—they are mostly useless. The better ones give a balanced view and mention problems without losing advertisers by calling products junk.

I found that much of what I thought I knew was foolishness, fostered by movies and oft repeated myths.

I read every article whether the subject interested me or not. I found that a lot of them were useful to understanding something I did want to learn about and I became interested in a few new subjects too.

I changed a lot of my views and gave up some cherished opinions.

I now can talk intelligently about most gun subjects; sometimes, people even come to me for information.

Now, why couldn't someone do that with the Bible? (Saw that one coming, didn’t you?) I know some who have done so with no formal program of study. They just wanted to learn and read until they did. One whose highest education is H.S. converses intelligently about theologies and Bible customs and Greek words, etc. The other does the same and is married to me. Will you become one??
 
As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, `Come, and hear what the word is that comes forth from the LORD.' And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with their lips they show much love, but their heart is set on their gain. And, lo, you are to them like one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. (Ezek 33:30-32)
 
​Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. (Luke 8:18)
 
Keith Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

For a while there, I was really big on self-analysis in fighting temptation. I’d break down what was tempting me most at what times. I’d define my mental state when I was most strongly tempted. I’d determine the difference between the times I overcame strong temptations and the times I fell. I invested all this time and effort to know myself and my weaknesses better, to know what helped me overcome and I’d still fall to temptations! Temptations that I knew intellectually how to beat!! Why? Because eventually it just comes down to me saying, “No.” All the self-analysis, self-knowledge and planning in the world isn’t going to help if I don’t say no.

Nancy Reagan became famous in the eighties for her anti-drug mantra “Just say No”. She was widely ridiculed by some who thought it too simple. ‘There’s peer pressure and teen immaturity and depression and economic desperation and all these things that lead to drug problems!’ they answered. All those things are true, but, however those things are dealt with, if one is to remain drug free one has to at some point just say no. Notice that Mrs. Regan never said it would be easy. She just said it was the answer. And she was right.

God tells His people the same thing about sin: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.” (Isa. 1:16-17) Make yourselves clean and “cease to do evil.” Just stop it. God goes on to tell His people to refill their lives by doing good, but at base He says stop being evil. Just say no.

My Dad used to work intake at the prison system and one of his coworkers was a drug counselor. Like many good drug counselors, this man was himself a recovering addict. At the time Dad told me this story his coworker had been clean for about 20 years. He confessed to Dad that he still had cravings. Sometimes they were so strong he would sit in his office and just hang on to his desk until they passed, because as long as he hung on to the desk, he wasn’t going out to find a fix. He just told himself “no” and hung on. Now if he can do that, why can’t I just hold on and not lose my temper? Why can’t I hold on and not have impure thoughts? Why can’t I hold on and conquer the temptation to ______________?

This is not to say that being aware of yourself and honestly analyzing your successes and failures isn’t helpful. It can be very helpful in learning to avoid situations that lead to temptations and in finding strategies to assist in saying no. For example, I almost never go to the public beaches in season any more. When I want to go to the beach, I find the lesser known, little used areas where I rarely see anyone else. Why? Because the public beaches are full of naked women, which is something I don’t need to be seeing as a Christian man trying to keep my thoughts pure. (And, yes, if you are only covered up in six square inches of fabric, you are naked.) So, that helps, but at some point, alone with my thoughts, I still have to say no to temptations to impure thoughts.

God calls us to be holy. He never says it will be easy. Quite the contrary. In telling us to be holy as our Father is, Peter instructs us to “gird up the loins of your minds”. Back when robes were the customary garment of all, anyone preparing to do hard labor or exercise had to tie up the ends of his robe to avoid tripping and to be ready for the exertions to come. In the same way, being holy requires preparation for hard mental work.

We have to say “no” and hang on.

1 Pet. 1:13-16 “Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance: but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.”

1 Tim. 6:12 “Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal . . .”
 
Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

God lifted Ezekiel and took him from Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem in a vision. In a divinely led tour of the temple, Ezekiel saw abomination after abomination in the very house of God. At each stop, God said, "Do you see this, you shall see greater abominations than these,” and led Ezekiel on to the next scene. At tour's end, God said, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? (Ezek 8:17, ESV2011).

Did you catch that? God considered the desecration of the temple to be a "light thing" in comparison to the things they were doing in the land. Instead of "light thing," we might say, "no big deal."

The "image of jealousy" in the court of the house of God is small? Seventy elders in the chambers that shared a wall with the temple itself worshiping all manner of idols and creatures is a thing to be dismissed? Women idolaters, men who turned their back on the house of God to worship the sun--these are small?

Maybe we need to re-evaluate the way we view our service. If a modern Ezekiel toured a church and saw instruments of worship, women preachers, open misuse of the Lord's Supper and worse, God might well say that these were light things in view of the violence done by his people to get ahead in life, to be dismissed in comparison with parent's neglect of children to pursue social standing, small things in relation to the indifference shown to the souls of the lost we never find time or a way to invite. Does our anger in rush hour traffic fill the land with violence? You can continue the list with your own observations of the daily failures to measure up to the correct worship we do on Sunday. [With Jesus we exhort, "These you ought to have done and not leave the others undone"].

God does not think like we do. We think if the public worship is by the book, then we are a sound church.

Ezekiel learned otherwise.

We still do not know God.
 
Keith Ward
 

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

My coworkers and bosses all know that I am a regular church goer. So, back at Christmas time I was fielding the usual questions: Does your church have a special Christmas service? A day-break service? etc. I was busy trying to explain that, no, we don’t have those services. That “my” church doesn’t do those things. Then it struck me that this was far from the first time that I had answered these questions. Do you have special Easter services? Good Friday? Thanksgiving? Put those negative answers alongside the answers about musical instruments, church councils and creeds and it occurred to me that to my coworkers the outstanding feature of the church of Christ might be that it doesn’t do anything. “Lucas? He goes to the Church that doesn’t have instrumental music, doesn’t cooperate with other churches, doesn’t give to orphanages, doesn’t have Christmas or Easter services and doesn’t have a fellowship hall.” Is this what we should be known for? What we don’t do?

Now, let me say that it is incredibly important to seek after God according to His ordinances. Doing those things would be against scripture, so we should not do them. But should we only be known for what we don’t do?

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

Jesus says that we should be known by how we love each other. That His disciples would be known by how they loved each other. We should not be ostentatious in the good deeds we do for each other (Matt. 6:1-6) but we should be so busy doing good for each other that others can’t help but notice. Dad loves to tell the story about the time he was in the hospital and so many brethren visited him that the nurse was amazed and commented on it in a wondering voice. That is how people should know us, as the church which loves its own and does good for the world as well. (1 Timothy 2:1-2, “pray for all men” see also Jeremiah 29:7)

Surely God would rather have us known as the Church whose members are always going about doing good than as just “the Church which doesn’t . . .”

Isa. 1:16-17 “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”
James 1:27 “Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
 
Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

It has happened fairly often lately with the climate change – we will go through a long spell of dry in mid-May sometimes into June. Then the rains come. 2 inches in two days, 3 or 4 inches in a day. Rains every day for a week or two. Actually, this causes little problem if it has rained from the beginning. But, after weeks of just enough irrigation, the sudden influx of too much rain causes my tomatoes to crack, then the gnats and other bugs and the rot get in. Often, even green tomatoes burst.

Someone will say, well, Keith, God knows more about how much rain to send and when to send it than you do. No doubt. But, this is a sin cursed garden, not Eden. So, I have weeds, too much rain, too little rain, blights caused by just a dampening shower every evening which does not in a week add up to a tenth, but keeps it wet so fungi grow.

It surely makes me long for THE garden.

In a similar way some say that the will of God will not lead where the Grace of God is not sufficient. But, then, their self will leads them to situations and they expect the grace of God to rescue them....without harm. NOT!

Or, something has happened that derailed me, and I just know that God has a better plan for me. Seems more likely that sin ruined the better plan God had for me (and you) and now you (and I) are stuck with plan B or even plan J. We just cannot go our own way and expect to escape consequences. Our lives may turn out far worse and our service may be much less than would have been possible had we not gone our own way for a time, or two, or three.…

It is by the grace of God that I enjoy anything from my garden, even the tomatoes that did not crack and the other veggies rescued at great effort from bugs, blights and weeds. It is by the grace of God that there can be a Plan C (or Q). Rather than moaning about what might have been or expecting something better, we must press on with what is left in the service of God who loves us.
 
​Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? … but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. (Lam 3:39,   Heb 12:10).
 
Keith Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

My last post emphasized the need to seek God “according to the ordinance” as David says in 1 Chron. 15. David’s failure to do so led God to make a breach against him and it cost Uzzah his life. Or in Christ’s words, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21). I essentially concluded with the statement that it doesn’t matter how sincere your heart is if you aren’t seeking God according to the ordinance. Without backing up from that at all, I do want to show the other side. If our hearts aren’t right, it doesn’t matter how carefully we follow the ordinances.

In Isaiah’s day, the people were careful to keep the daily sacrifices going and celebrated the new moons as Moses had taught them, but God was not happy with them. Isa. 1:11-14 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. "When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” What was the problem here? Notice that God doesn’t say they aren’t following His teachings closely enough, that isn’t the problem. So what is? He tells them in the next verse: “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” They were worshipping correctly, but they weren’t living as children of God. They showed up to worship on the Sabbath, but during the rest of the week their “hands are full of blood”. They were living sinful lives, and all the correct worship in the world wasn’t going to get them any closer to God. If they wanted a relationship with Him, He tells they that they will have to shape up. Isa 1:16-17 “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.”

Jesus dealt with the same issue with the Pharisees. Their strict observance of ordinance while hypocritically living lives of sin exasperated Him and He routinely tried to teach them better (or at least to warn others from following after them). Most well-known is His harangue against them in Matt. 23. A selection: vs 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” They were so careful about every detail of the ordinances of the Law, yet they failed to follow the underlining principles of the Law. Justice, mercy and faithfulness are far more important than making sure they tithed the herb garden properly. Their hearts weren’t right, so their law-keeping was worthless.

Notice, though, that Jesus didn’t say they were wrong for tithing the mint, dill, and cumin. “These [justice and mercy and faithfulness] you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” Jesus says they should not have neglected proper tithing, just that it should have been done with a godly heart. And proper tithing did include the herb garden. Deuteronomy 14:22 says they should tithe all that came forth from the field. That would include herbs. They weren’t wrong about the ordinance, they were wrong about their hearts.

So, to last time’s
IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW SINCERE WE ARE IF WE AREN’T WORSHIPING ACCORDING TO THE ORDINANCE
we must add
IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW CAREFULLY WE FOLLOW THE ORDINANCES OF WORSHIP IF WE AREN’T SINCERE.

Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

John 4:23 “. . . true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”
 
Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

I once was a reasonably capable song-leader. I also was preaching part time at this medium size church back when Dene and I were engaged and in our honeymoon year. We were there early on a Sunday night and I was practicing a song when H.R. came in, bustling down the aisle the way he did when he was younger, “Do you like that song?” I replied that I did. “Well, then, why are you singing it that way?” He then proceeded to show me what I was doing incorrectly and how to do it right. Now, many would fault him for being too brusque—he should have been nicer with his manner, etc. But, I was grateful because I did like the song and did not want to sing it wrong.

How are you doing with your song which you are composing for Jesus? Each day you sing a new score, sometimes a solo, sometimes a concert or a duet, but each life makes music unto the Lord.

How would you feel if I came bursting in and said, “Do you like that song?” … “Then, why are you singing it that way?” Do you want to go around feeling good all the time, puffed up with positive comments and people’s suggestions so nicely thought out that you don’t know that your life is discordant to the music Jesus wrote? Do you want your song to Jesus to be off key and feel good, or risk a hurt feeling to be able to sing the right notes? A choral director looks right at the offender and says that he is flat, or sharp, or held that note too long, or whatever. We have become so afraid of offending people that we let them keep on singing the wrong notes and creating disharmony in our song to Jesus too!

Our sermons are positive, make people feel good and would never offend a sinner if he had done what is being preached about last night and planned to do it again tonight. In like manner are our personal attempts to tell someone that he needs to change.

A lot of people who could sing a beautiful melody to Jesus are rushing straight to eternal damnation for the lack of an H.R. to say, “Here is the way that song is supposed to be sung.”
 
Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?  Gal 4:16
 
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Prov 27:6                  
 
Keith Ward    

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

The Old Testament believers sure did things differently than us. They approached God in ways most modern Christians would never dare. For instance, the ninth chapter of Daniel records that Daniel had been reading Jeremiah’s prophecy and discovered that the time of the captivity was to be 70 years. By that time,70 years had passed. So Daniel begins praying, and his prayer constitutes most of the rest of the chapter. While Daniel spends most of the prayer acknowledging the sins of the people and God’s righteousness in destroying them, the thrust of the prayer is actually that it’s time for God to restore the people to Jerusalem. Daniel urges God to hasten to do this “for your own sake” (vs. 19). While Daniel is very diplomatic about it, he is still rather boldly demanding that God keep His promises.

Nehemiah does this as well. In the first chapter Nehemiah calls on God to remember His word, that He would gather His people back to Jerusalem. Nehemiah is rather blunt and essentially says, “Hey, you promised! Remember what you promised and do it.” What kind of chutzpah does it take to remind God of His promises and demand that He keep them? But it’s not just Daniel and Nehemiah. We see these reminders of promises throughout the Psalms. Just two examples: Ps. 25:6 “Remember your mercy, O LORD”; Ps. 74:1-2 “O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? Remember your congregation . . . Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.” These men aren’t calling God on the carpet; rather they believe His promises so strongly that they feel comfortable depending on them and calling for them. “Reminding” God in this way really just showed their faith in, and dependence on, His promises.

God has made us promises, too. He has promised to keep us from facing unwinnable temptations (1 Cor. 10:13). He has promised to forgive us our sins if we will acknowledge them (1 John 1:8-9). He has promised to provide us with our daily necessities (Matt. 6:31-34). He has promised to work for us with great power (Eph. 1:19-20). He has promised to raise us from the dead to eternal life giving us a great inheritance by making us joint heirs with Christ (1 Cor. 15:53-57, Rom. 8:16-17). Do we believe in those promises? Do we believe in them enough to “call” God on them? The Apostles did. They believed in His promises of eternal life so strongly that they called on Christ to return as quickly as possible (1 Cor. 16:22, Rev. 22:20).

How much more successful would I be at defeating temptations if, when tempted, I prayed, “God, you said you’d always make a way of escape. Please help me see it now.”? How much more calm would I be about my finances if I prayed “God, you said if I seek your kingdom first, you’d provide for my needs, so I’m counting on you to let me eat.”? Etc, etc.

How strongly do you hold to His promises?

Rev. 22:20 “He who testifies these things says, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus.”
 
Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Helene Smith, from her blog Maidservants of Christ.

When we lived abroad, I lived an entirely apolitical life.  I had no opportunity (nor desire) to speak about the politics of our host country and no need to think about the politics half a world away in America.  But since we have been back, (especially this last 12 months) it seems to be the only topic of conversation.  I have been thinking about it a lot and finally came up with these 6 passages to help me sort out how to deal with these conversations and my own responsibility.

1. In Jesus Name: Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.  (Col 3:17).  All our social media interactions as well as personal and political actions fall under this principle.  I sense a lot of cognitive dissonance (the pain that comes when two of our thoughts are in conflict).  The fact that our country has separated religion and the state has nothing to do with whether as a Christian my faith and politics can be separated.  They can't.  Whatever I do, I need to apply this standard to it.  Could I read my post (or explain my position) to Jesus and say, "See Lord, I did this in your name?"

2.   The Unity of the Spirit: Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3). When we deal with other Christians on Facebook we are required to consider unity.  Check out Paul's logic here.  We are all indwelled by the same Spirit, thus we are united.  When I respond to my brother in anger, without humility, gentleness, tolerance and love, I break peace with one in who the Spirit dwells.  My connection to God is immediately hindered (Matthew 5:21-26).  This is as true when we have religious discussions on social media as it is when we have political ones (The Parable of the Trolls, The Parable of the Trolls Explained,The Care and Feeding of Trolls ).

3. With Honor: Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. (1 Peter 2:17).   Honor is a tough word for Americans.  We believe that "respect" is something that must be earned.  Honor is for those who have proven themselves honorable.  Yet God has always insisted that honor is given by the honorable to all men especially those in authority whether they deserve it or not (For a great example see Paul's apology to the High Priest in Acts 23:1-11). Thus when we are disrespectful, snide, derogatory, dismissive, and elitist we are showing ourselves to be honorless  (If you are thinking of all the other people who talk like this, I invite you to join me in some introspection).

4. With Truth: You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).  The children of Satan are liars; the children of the Heavenly Father are compelled to be truth-tellers. Practically speaking, on social media this commitment calls us to do several things: To commit to not passing on false news.  To not willfully misrepresent others.  To not tell only half of a story in order to shape other's opinions deceitfully (or pass on news that does this).  To recognize the truth even when it is politically inconvenient.  And to remember that the truth is always more complex than a sound bite.
​
5. From the Heart: Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil (Matthew 12:33-35). When I write a post, I often read it aloud to my husband asking "Does that sound ok?"  Sometimes I am trying to avoid being misunderstood but sometimes it is my conscience niggling at me.  I wonder if I should post the words that are bubbling up in frustration.  I find myself convicted again by Jesus' words.  The angry words, the divisive words, the hurtful words reflect my heart.  The rubric here isn't simply that I should double check before I post (although that certain is great advice) but if I find myself writing in a harsh and angry way, I must examine my heart.
 
6. Wi th Care But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).    Jesus says all those careless words (I shudder when I think of every time I've said, "I didn't mean that.") will be accounted for in judgement.  Sometimes I imagine all the world gathered to be judged and God has my Facebook feed up on the Jumbotron asking me to explain this or that. Terrifying?   I must think with great care about what I say and how I say it. 
 
Do you have other verses that inform your social media interactions? Share them in the comments.  We can learn together how to be the people of God in the wild world of politics and social media.


Helene Smith
Maidservantsofchrist.blogspot.com

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

Member: Lord, have mercy!

Jesus: But you left my body, quit the church.

Member: But, Lord, you know what they did….

Jesus: Yes, and I will deal with them in their time, but you left me, abandoned me.

Member: but, but….

Jesus: I know: They were judgmental when they should have been helpful; They stepped on your fingers when you were trying to claw your way back; When you needed a helping hand, they slapped you down for the shortcomings you were trying to ask for help to deal with, but YOU left me, quit on ME.

Member: but, they built walls when I needed bridges, and I did not want to be part of them.

Jesus: But, I was asking that you be part of me, not part of them.  You know, I never allowed any temptation too great for you; I had the belief in you that you would overcome and be there, in my body, for the next one who was reaching. That you would be the compassionate hand helping instead of criticizing, that the lessons of your own hurt would teach you how. YOU abandoned MY body to those who hurt you and left them to hurt others and were not a balm for those others. Every one lost was like a crucifixion nail in my body and you were the hammer.

Member: Please, Lord…

Jesus: And who knows that your example might have saved some of the “them” that hurt you. But, you let YOUR hurt, your emotions, your feelings dominate your connection to me and your concern for others. You were all about yourself. It seems that you never knew me or what I was about, So…..

This was written for those who quit going to church. But, it could well apply to many who attend.

That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Cor 12:25-27).
 
Keith Ward