Lesson 4 · Upper Room: Growing Deeper

The Church — God’s Family

When we are born again, God adds us to His family — the church, the body of Christ. We are not meant to walk alone.

Key verse

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”

1 Corinthians 12:13 · NKJV

One body

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). Every believer is a needed member of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27).

Devoted together

The early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” (Acts 2:42) They loved, shared, and worshiped together.

Don’t forsake it

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together… but exhorting one another.” (Hebrews 10:25) Belong to a local church, serve, and grow.

Search the Scriptures

Read these passages in your Bible

  • Acts 2:42
  • 1 Corinthians 12:13
  • Hebrews 10:25

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Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV).

Work through it

One body, described three ways

Acts 2:42, 1 Corinthians 12:13, and Hebrews 10:25 are the study references. Read 1 Corinthians 12 whole: verse 13 is one sentence inside an extended argument about a body with many members, and verse 27, quoted above, is its conclusion about you. Acts 2:42 describes what the first believers did together, and reading to the end of the chapter shows what it produced among them. Hebrews 10:25 belongs to a sentence that begins at verse 23 and says what the assembling is for — holding fast, stirring one another up, exhorting. Read it as the one sentence it is and the instruction stops sounding like attendance-keeping.

What it asks

Fourth of six, and it asks for a decision

The step is to commit to a Christ-honouring local church: attending faithfully, serving, and loving the people there. That is the most practical request in the Growing Deeper series, and it is not one that reading can satisfy. This lesson follows the Word of God and comes before the fruit and gifts of the Spirit, which is a natural order — the gifts in the next lesson are given, in Paul's words, for the profit of all, and the all is the body this lesson describes. The New Believer series covers some of the same ground in its closing lesson, from a new believer's side. Both series read free here and download as print-ready booklets.