Topic: The Benefits of Belonging to a Church Family, Part 1 [RICK WARREN Devotional 22 February  2022]

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The Benefits of Belonging to a Church Family, Part 1

“When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.”

Romans 1:12 (NLT)The better connected you are to a church family, the more you will experience everything the church has to offer.

What does the church have to offer? You get five benefits when you belong to a church family. Today we’ll be looking at the first two.

You learn your true identity. People often look for their identity in superficial things, such as their career, wealth, or favorite sports team. They may even try to find their identity in the brands of clothing they wear. But when you belong to Jesus, he gives you a whole new identity.

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The Bible says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV).

When you belong to Jesus, God adopts you into his family, the church. Unlike your physical family—in which people die, grow apart, move away, or divorce—your spiritual family is permanent and will last for all eternity in heaven. Ephesians 2:19 says, “You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God” (CEV).

You are supported by others. Like the strong structure of a building, we hold each other up. Without the stable support system of a church, you may find yourself collapsing at some point in your life. You weren’t meant to do it all on your own. You need physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental support.

The Bible says, “In [Christ] the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22 NIV).

Years ago, I began putting LEGO sets together with my grandkids. You know what I discovered? Each LEGO brick has no purpose on its own unless it’s connected to others. Disconnected, they’re just a pile of plastic. But when you connect them, you can build just about anything you can imagine.

Romans 1:12 says, “When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours” (NLT). That’s why we belong to the church—so God’s people can say together, “Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.”

• Where—other than in Jesus—are you sometimes tempted to place your identity?
• How does your spiritual family encourage you to embrace your true identity in Christ?
• Describe a time you were disconnected from the church and didn’t have any support. What circumstance brought you back to a church family? If you’ve never been disconnected from the church, how has your church supported you through a hard time?

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