By Rick Vacek
GCU News Bureau
The Bible does have a sense of humor, Samson Dunn was delighted to point out Monday morning in Chapel at Grand Canyon University Arena.
The lead pastor of Catalyst Church in Phoenix cited 1 Corinthians 12:12-19 to underscore his main point: The hope of the world lies in the ability of local churches — which means the people in those churches — to spread God’s word and do His work.
The Apostle Paul wrote that we are baptized by one Spirit to form one body. However, there are many parts in that body or church.
“Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body,” Dunn said. “And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.
“If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?”
As he was reading those verses, Dunn interjected, “You guys think the Bible is totally void of anything funny. In fact, if you look at Jesus’ teachings very closely, especially when he was talking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the stuffy, crusty religious leaders, I mean, I could see the people rolling, laughing.”
Dunn, who got his bachelor’s degree in psychology from GCU in 2009 and his master’s in theology/Christian leadership from the University in 2011, told the audience, “If you are here today, you are part of the body. No matter what your feelings about the church are, you are part of it.”
Dunn urged attendees who don’t go to a local church regularly to join one and serve in it. Hopscotching around to various churches doesn’t work, he said, because “it must be a committed relationship.”
It’s all about using your influence to turn believers into disciples, wherever that might be.
“If you want the church to be powerful, make it powerful,” he said in closing. “If you want the church to be better, make it better. If you want the church to be relevant, make it relevant.
“Because you are the church. You are the body of Jesus Christ. And no matter what, you can’t give up on it. Because without it we’re doomed — because the local church is the hope of the world.”
● For a replay of Dunn’s talk, click here.
● Next week: No Chapel (spring break). Senior Pastor Christopher Brooks of Evangel Ministries in Detroit is the scheduled Chapel speaker on Monday, March 23.
Contact Rick Vacek at 602-639-8203 or [email protected].
