Joined and Held Together for a Purpose

by

Rocky Fleming

“… speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16, ESV)   Many of you know that I had a challenging surgery a few weeks ago.  The surgeon did a lot to work on my femur as it had been broken and would not heal for the last 16 years.  This condition also caused my leg to crush and become shortened by three inches.  During the last 16 years, I’ve had the agony of pain that would never leave me.  On a good day, I had a pain level of five on a pain scale with a ten being the worst.  Bad days were just that … bad.  But, I coped in the best way I could and kept trudging on, and God covered my weakness and challenges with His all-sufficient grace.  Still, I had the constant pain and many of you could see it in my demeanor as I began to grow weaker and tired most of the time.  The pain traveled from the femur to the knees to the back, as the length differences in my legs created additional problems, such as my knees, also having to be replaced.  Thank God, all that has now changed as a brilliant young surgeon, under God’s guidance, repaired and secured the break, and restored the three inches lost to my leg.  Nine weeks later, I now stand even on two feet and walk with no limp or pain.  So, as a result of dealing with the specific issues with my femur, my overall health has now been restored, and the pain has been replaced by a new freshness to my life.  I now feel physically normal and healthy, as I haven't felt in years.   I know many of you prayed that this would be done, and I am grateful for your prayers.  It is apparent that God gave us what we hoped and prayed for.  Therefore, I can’t help but say to you, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, for coming to me in my hour of need with your prayers!”  God has indeed blessed me because of it.  I am now energetically engaged in His work as I have not been able to do in years.  But I want to make a special note that your prayerful concern and prayers for me is an example of the scripture above being lived out and applied, for we need to connect those dots.  I am now working properly physically because those of you in the Body of Christ came to my rescue and held me up in your prayers.  You did your part in asking this blessing on me, and God was pleased to grant it.  I bring my surgery experience up to you for two reasons, … to thank you for your prayers, and to hopefully make the passage above come alive to you, for there is something here that definitely needs to be understood.  First, we need to clearly understand that prayer works, and we need to take a serious look at what we are missing when we do not accept God’s invitation to come together and go to Him in prayer for His help.  Next we need to understand that when the Body of Christ is properly working together as you demonstrated with your prayer support for me, we, in the Body of Christ, can play an essential role in building each other up, strengthening each other, and growing toward becoming what God designed us to be as His Church.   In the passage above, Apostle Paul, the writer of Ephesians helps us understand how Christians need each other.  Because I lead a men’s ministry and have mentored Christian men for the last 30 years, I can speak from experience of the essential need of men needing other men as an example.  Men might like to play act that we need no one, especially another man, and we might try to fake how ruggedly individualistic we are, but the truth is we need other men in our lives who will be used by God to help form us into godly men.  Without other godly men in our life, we will not develop properly, for God created this dependence in the Body of Christ the same way our physical and mental needs require certain nutritional, intellectual and emotional requirements for health.  The Body of Christ is designed by God to need one another to become complete and to function properly.  If we do not realize and accept this, and try to fill this need as part of our spiritual “nutrition” for our development, then we will remain weak or retarded in our spiritual growth.  However, the sad evidence I’ve seen in the typical church in America is that we don't accept this need for each other, and as a result the congregation of a church doesn’t grow strong in Christ.  This fragmented local church will not impact the community it hopes to serve, and its mission to make disciples as Christ directed us to do will be compromised.  But also consider how local churches are also fragmented from each other by their denominational differences and erroneous and irrelevant cultural distinctions that keep them divided.  Look at God's design for His Church.  It is those unique differences and different views that could instead strengthen and build us up if we would come to understand that we are under Christ and that we are “joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped.” What are we equipped with?  We are equipped with Christ and each other and we need to understand that what we can be and do for our King if we are functioning as we should could be amazing.  Therefore, the time is now upon us for this awakening and transition for making a difference in our world around us.   How can the Body be strong and complete when there are areas of weakness, or sickness, or needs not being met by those of us who can help meet those needs?  I truly believe that I have been healed of my 16-year battle with pain and God is the Author of my healing.  But, I also believe those who prayed for me were the inspiration for God wanting to demonstrate His power with my healing and His willingness to answer an impossible prayer for people who prayed.  Listen, I take very personally that God has done this great work in my life for my family and me.  But, I also believe that there is more on God’s heart than simply healing one of His men who will one day be given a new body.  I believe this answered prayer is less about me and more about a message from God that He is sending to us that He delights in His children when we are concerned for someone else in the family enough to pray for him.  This brings a tremendous burden to me to improve my personal prayer life, and to lead Influencers to be more proactive in joining together to pray.  But this burden I now have is a good one.  This is a burden that Jesus said would be light for it is a burden He has placed on me.  This burden of prayer has already born fruit for it is inviting other men and women of Christ to join together and strengthen His family in Northwest Arkansas.  For instance:   On October 10th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM, Influencers in Northwest Arkansas will be hosting a large gathering of its men at Memorial Park in Bentonville.  We are inviting all men who have participated in The Journey in NWA to join us.  We are expecting upward of 500 active Influencers, although way over 1,000 men in NWA have participated in a Journey Group in the past.  We just do not know the other names and contact information or else they would be invited.  Hopefully, we will find out who they are and we will gladly embrace them if they choose to join us.  We will provide all the food and it will be good food, as six of our gifted men withhospitality will be smoking meat and preparing the other food items, and another team of gifted men will be serving in several other areas.  The park has been secured; the organization of this event has begun by our men gifted in organization and leadership.  We want this gathering of Influencers to be so compelling that they will all return to a future gathering bringing a friend with them.  The reason we are making this effort is founded on what we hope to accomplish.  We are not doing this to just simply have an event.  Although an event might be good, it will not accomplish our purpose.  We are not doing this to expand Influencers as a ministry, as that is not remotely on our mind either.  Our hope is that this event will be the beginning of a movement in NWA that will mobilize Men of God throughout NWA to embrace our sacred responsibility to “Live It Out” with our families, our churches, and our community.  We want all God’s men in NWA to find this passion in their life in following Christ.  But, we feel it needs to begin with our Influencers in October and radiate out from that event to where God will take it.  We are praying for a movement to begin from this event that will awaken the Body of Christ in NWA.  This prayer of ours is not about Influencers, but rather about The Body of Christ in NWA.  We want to do our part as a ministry in bringing God’s family together to become what Christ gave his life for as His Bride.  The events we will sponsor are about that purpose and that purpose alone.  It is to awaken ourselves as Men of God, and to play our parts in serving God’s family in NWA, so that we as His Church will become what we are capable of being.   I mentioned the importance of prayer and how God has given me a new burden for it.  All of the leaders in organizing this upcoming event also share my burden for prayer.  Some of us began our prayer effort several years ago, and it has intensified as other people have joined us. We see that prayer is to be a critical part of the movement we hope unfolds from this event.  Therefore, a prayer team supporting the overall formation and purpose of our gathering is being formed.  The heart of this prayer effort will be godly women who have completed The Journey and who are also Influencers.  The leaders of Influencers can take no credit for the expansion and success of women usingThe Journey, only to say that we gladly released it to them and fanned their flame to use it.  But we have seen the same dynamics form in these women that we have seen in men, as they come into close proximity with Christ.  They bear fruit.  But one thing we see very clearly in these women is the powerful work for good that comes from their prayers.  I believe we will see a powerful movement of God over this event and its purpose if we pray, and these women will be joining with us by organizing their own efforts to undergird the prayer support we need.  Now let’s connect the dots:   I ask you to reread the passage in Ephesians I included today and connect what I have experienced lately with what I have come to realize about prayer and organization and the need of the hour in NWA, and as well for those of you in other regions of the Nation and the globe.  I understand that you and I simply play our part in God’s plans.  But when we play our part, it is a critical need that is being met in God’s plans.  I am just an ordinary man, as is all of you.  I know this.  But, I have been led by God to play my part to lead Influencers to join together, to serve together in making a difference in NWA and the World, and to bring prayer into becoming a critical part of this ministry.  Not that I am trying to produce anything that God does not form, but I believe this endeavor we are making will be the beginning of a spectacular work of God as He awakens His Church.  It will be a big task that He will do and a big one that He asks us to do.  But, if we are joined and held together by every joint with which (we are) equipped, God can do wondrous things.   Therefore, I ask you:  “Will you play your part and join with me?”