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Going deeper...to go further

Daily Bible reading strengthens our relationship with God, nourishes our spirits and equips us to live a fruitful, effective life for Him.

This month we're going on a journey into God's vision for His Church—our identity, calling, authority, love, unity, and mission. Each day you'll find the passage in full on our website alongside something to help you focus and pray so that you can apply the Word to your life. As we read the Word it’s important that we apply what we read and pray it out over our lives. One of the way you can do this is by using the acronym SOAP. To find out more about SOAP watch this video.

Below you’ll see what we’re reading today. To go forward or back a day in our reading plan use the 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons.

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Week 1 – Our Identity as the Body of Christ
Day 4 – Living Stones

Focus: We are a holy priesthood and God’s chosen people.
Prayer: "Father, enable us as a Church to walk together with You to bring Your light and life to those around us."

1 Peter 2:4-12

Christ, the Living Stone4You have turned to Him, the Living Stone that was rejected by men but chosen by God and is precious to Him.5So now you are to be living stones yourselves that God can build into a spiritual dwelling place for Himself. You have become a holy priesthood because of all you offer to God through your faith in Jesus Christ, spiritual sacrifices that please Him. For it is written in scripture:6"Look and see, I lay in Zion a chosen and precious Cornerstone. Anyone who trusts in Him will never be ashamed."7-8This Stone is so precious to you, but not to those who do not believe in Jesus. This Stone that the builders rejected became the Keystone; so to those who do not believe, "He is a Stone that causes men to stumble and a Rock that makes them fall." It is because they disobey the message given them that they stumble, and so are destined for the condemnation that is inevitable for those who reject their means of salvation.A chosen people9By contrast, see what you have become, people chosen by God Himself. You are a royal priesthood because you offer your lives in sacrifice as those who live in the King. You are a holy nation, not a nation with geographical boundaries but a people set apart for God, a people who truly belong to Him.Why has God done all this for you? So that you can declare with your mouths and by the way you live, the praises of this wonderful God who called you out of darkness and has brought you into His wonderful light.10There was a time when you did not belong to these people who form God's Kingdom on earth; but now each of you is one of God's people. Before you did not experience His mercy; but now you are who you are because of that mercy.11So I implore you, my dear friends, because you are strangers and do not belong to this world, refuse to yield to any sinful desires that will only fight against the well-being of your souls.12Give such an example to the ungodly among whom you live, that they will see God's goodness in your lives, even when they bring all manner of false accusations against you. For your example will help them to embrace the glory of God that is to be revealed when Christ returns.

Father, thank You for making me a member of the Body of Christ. Help me to love Your Church as You love her. Teach me to serve with humility, walk in the authority of Jesus, be led by the Holy Spirit, and lay down my life for my brothers and sisters. Build us together into a dwelling place for Your presence and make us a powerful witness of Your Kingdom until Christ returns. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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