Welcome to The Refinery. The Church The Body of Christ is the theme for the next few Sunday’s. These messages are primarily based around Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Today we are discussing, The Goal of the Church. Ephesians 4:7-16 NKJV Spiritual Gifts 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.  8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also [a]first descended into the lower parts of the earth?  10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the [b]edifying of the body of Christ,  13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;  14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,  15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—  16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. The total impression of this passage from Ephesians 4 is that Christ has a goal, a supreme standard for His church, and that goal is so high, so exalted that it taxes the imagination to comprehend it. Nonetheless, here and now, in the body of this flesh, we are to strive to attain it. Specifically, this passage leaves three impressions on the mind and the heart. First, Christ has given us the grace whereby we may reach the goal. Second, the means of growth for reaching that goal are at hand. And third, we must not stop nor be satisfied short of the goal, no matter how high the standard nor how great the difficulties in the way. Until next time Stay in the Blessings I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word. When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer. Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body! You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at The Refinery. When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you. So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us at www.refinerylife.org 2024 IS A YEAR OF DECISIONS AND OPEN DOORS © www.refinerylife.org  2013-2024 All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968, no part of this Article may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission.  This episode is brought to you by Refinery Life Australia: If you enjoy The Refinery Life Radio Podcast you can help support The Refinery by doing the following: Sow an offering: Bitcoin: bc1qqh6720t2zagj72dyfj348az698tdut3hlecaj4 Online: https://www.refinerylife.org/donate/ If you do send an offering then please email us so that we can say thank you Subscribe on iTunes | Spotify  | YouTube | TuneIn | Rumble | Flare | Zap.Stream | Fountain | Share The Refinery with your friends and family Subscribe to the newsletter on www.refinerylife.org Follow The Re