“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” (John 17:15)

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;” (John 17:20)

We know that when Jesus was on the cross, He said that it is finished. Yes, His work as being manifest in the flesh is finished. But Jesus’ continues to work. What is the work that Jesus is doing even today?

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)

Jesus intercedes for His church. Therefore today if we love the Lord, we should also love God’s people and love the church. If Jesus intercedes for His church, we need to have Jesus’ desire as our desire. We need to have Jesus’ purpose as our purpose. Brothers and sisters, what do we need for the church? For brothers and sisters to intercede for the church.

“(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)” (Numbers 12:3)

How humble are we? We will know by how much time we spend praying for God’s people and God’s church. Moses was a humble person indeed.

“Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.” So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made.” (Exodus 32:30-35)

God was very angry when the people made the angry calf. But Moses prayed for the people. He was not praying for innocent people, but for sinful people. In verse 32, Moses even says, “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”” Moses was willing to put himself forward so that God would forgive God’s people. Actually, if we look at verse 14, we see that Moses had already interceded for the people.

“So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.” (Exodus 32:14)

If God already said that He would relent from the harm that He would do to the people, then why did Moses beg God again? He wanted to make sure, because he knew how sinful God’s people were. He put God’s people ahead of himself. Brothers and sisters, we need more people like Moses. If someone is sick, we pray for them. If someone has difficulties in their lives, we pray for them. What if someone is going against God’s will? Do we think that it is alright? “Nah, he’s like that, no one can change him, so we just leave it.” If we are like that, then we are to blame when the church is weak. We are to blame! We need to learn from Moses.

“So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper.” (Numbers 12:9-10)

What did Moses do?

“So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!”” (Numbers 12:13)

Moses understood that Miriam had sinned against God. It was a serious sin. God gave her leprosy. That meant that she would be severed from God’s people forever. What did Moses do? Moses cried out to God to heal her. Actually, can leprosy be cured? No. Not by man. Only one can cure leprosy—God Almighty Himself. So here we can see that Moses was hurt by Miriam. But Moses did not hold a grudge against Miriam. Because Moses had a compassionate heart.

We need more people like Moses to forget about the hurt and to see people’s spiritual needs. If you know that someone has sinned against you, that means they have sinned against God. That means they need God’s forgiveness. Today if we want our church to be stronger, we need to pray like Moses, just like how he prayed for Miriam.

“So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again.” (Numbers 12:15)

Was it cruel for Miriam to be shut out? But that is what God’s law stipulated. So she could have a chance to be healed. Seven days was not forever. And then God brought her back in. Today, we need to pray like Moses prayed for Miriam.

“Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”” (Numbers 14:11-12)

By the way, this was not a temptation from the devil. God wanted to make Moses great. God said, “I’m going to make you great.” Isn’t that amazing, if God wanted to make you great? Greater than the Israelites? Forget about these troublesome people! They don’t listen! They’re so stubborn! For so many years they’re still the same! But what did Moses do? Moses prayed for these people. “Don’t do that,” he said to God. Moses rejected God’s offer. Why? Because Moses cared about God’s name. Moses cared about God’s people. So therefore, he humbled himself and prayed for God’s stubborn people.

“Then the Lord said: “I have pardoned, according to your word;” (Numbers 14:20)

What a powerful prayer. Why was it so powerful? Because Moses was humble. He did not focus on himself. He did not focus on how he was made to feel when the Israelites were so troublesome. He only focused on God’s promise and God’s love for God’s people.

We thank our Lord Jesus. Today we learn from Jesus. We learn from Moses. Moses prayed for the people that worshiped the golden calf. Moses prayed for Miriam’s sin. Moses prayed for God to continue to lead them. Why do you think all this is recorded for us? It is for us in the end time true church. It is not just a story. It is not just history. It is a prophecy that we have to adopt. Because Moses is a sign for a true believer in God. A true servant.

“which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:23)

Here it talks about how the church is the body of Christ, and Christ fills all in all. Thank God.

The church is the body of Christ. The church comprises of the people who have been bought by the blood of Christ. In order for them to be bought by the blood of Christ, there needs to have been the Holy Spirit to witness this. No matter what race, sex, status, or age we are, so long as we are baptized through the Holy Spirit, we become a part of this one body. The Holy Spirit personally testifies that our blood has been washed by Christ. If there is no Holy Spirit witnessing, we cannot receive the washing of the blood of Christ. The personal witnessing of the Holy Spirit in baptism allows us to, during our baptism today, be washed by the blood that Jesus Christ shed 2000 years ago. Then our old man will be crucified with Christ together on the cross and buried together. Because of the promise of the Holy Spirit, we are born again through the Holy Spirit. When we come up from baptism, we are a new man in Christ, with a new life.

The body of Christ has many members. Since we are a part of Christ, we need organization, or we will be scattered. When we look at our bodies, we can see that everything is held together within our skin, and the tendons, flesh and bones are all held together. In society, if you hold a position of status, then others beneath you must listen to you. In church, holding a position is different and guided by different values—one in such a position must serve others.

In Christ, we have many members. But not every member of Christ’s body is with us in church. We must reach out to weak members. We cannot think that when weak members do not come that we are therefore a stronger church.

“No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,” (1 Corinthians 12:22-23)

We cannot neglect any member of the body. If someone is weak and we cut such a person off, how can we practice loving one another? Those who are weak must remain in our body and we must look for them. This must be part of our holy work. How do we organize holy work? How do we end up doing different types of holy work in church?

We must have a good understanding of gifts. Gifts are distributed by the Holy Spirit. The body of Christ is filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit understands the needs of the church. Hence, He distributes gifts accordingly.

“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:11)

The Holy Spirit is the one who distributes these gifts. This is like how in our body, our organs serve different functions for us. Likewise, in the body of Christ. Gifts are only differentiated by what they are for, but they are not different in their value. It is not that the one who stands on the pulpit and preaches is a more valuable gift. If you think this way, you are looking at the body of Christ through secular eyes. If everyone pursues the gift of preaching on the pulpit because this is a work in the limelight, then you would not like to use the washroom in church because nobody would be cleaning it. We certainly need the right understanding: there is no differentiation in the value of each gift, but only in its function. According to the gift God has given us, we organize ourselves into different holy work to do for God.

“I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.” (1 Timothy 5:21)

This is very important, which was why Paul charged this to Timothy before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels. We serve only to delight the Lord, and hence we must obey this. We must do things without prejudice and to do nothing with partiality. This is how the church will grow. If church workers do things in church with prejudice, the church will lose harmony. How will the body be strong?

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” (Romans 12:3-5)

From understanding how Christ is head of the church, we can understand the characteristics of the church. There are many people who have caused confusion with regards to this topic, even saying that we are just like any other church. If we are not sober and cannot discern, we can easily be deceived. To be in this church is very precious. How can we have a close relationship with Christ? In this first part of our series, we will discuss how Christ is the head of the church.

Hallelujah! In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I speak.

We read Genesis 29. Jacob travelled a long distance to Haran. It would have taken him more than a month. It’s not difficult to imagine the excitement that he felt when he saw that the people gathered in the village in Haran. Genesis 29:1-2;