{"id":39007,"date":"2018-11-02T08:16:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T08:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/body-can-only-survive-if-its-members-work-together\/"},"modified":"2018-11-02T08:16:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T08:16:00","slug":"body-can-only-survive-if-its-members-work-together","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/body-can-only-survive-if-its-members-work-together\/","title":{"rendered":"A Body Can Only Survive If Its Members Work Together"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ron Bryce writes in &ldquo;The Fingerprint of God&ldquo;:<\/p>\n\n<p>One day, as I assisted a surgeon, he had me reach into the patient&#39;s chest and turn his heart so he could work on it from a better angle. As I gingerly swiveled it, he asked, &quot;How does it feel to hold a man&#39;s beating heart in your hand?&quot; In spite of our manipulations, the man&#39;s heart kept thumping as billions of tiny heart cells communicated and coordinated their activities.<\/p>\n\n<p>The cells in your heart rhythmically contract in unity, acting together to produce a heartbeat. If these living cells are separated from the heart in a test tube, they will instinctively continue beating, but not in coordination with each other. If the cells are brought back in contact with one another, the instant they touch, their contractions again become synchronized.<\/p>\n\n<p>That is the nature of heart cells. Individual heart cells cannot accomplish their God-given function alone. They were designed to be one of many cells in one heart. While they serve a unique function in the body, they are not useful if they don&#39;t communicate and coordinate their efforts. If the members of an entire body don&#39;t communicate, life is not possible. A single heart cell working alone cannot pump blood to the body, no matter how hard it tries. It needs the other cells to fulfill its purpose.<\/p>\n\n<p>This is a consistent pattern found in all living bodies. The only way a body can survive is through its many members working together. All living bodies have communication among the members.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\"> <\/h2>","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3509,3511,3601,3610,3612,3713,4120,4175,4450,5167,5213,5214],"tax_ctp_topics":[382,397],"class_list":["post-39007","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-body","tax_ctp_tags-body-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-church","tax_ctp_tags-church-health","tax_ctp_tags-church-involvement","tax_ctp_tags-creator","tax_ctp_tags-harmony","tax_ctp_tags-human-body","tax_ctp_tags-membership","tax_ctp_tags-togetherness","tax_ctp_tags-unity","tax_ctp_tags-unity-of-church"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Body Can Only Survive If Its Members Work Together - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/body-can-only-survive-if-its-members-work-together\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Body Can Only Survive If Its Members Work Together - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ron Bryce writes in &ldquo;The Fingerprint of God&ldquo;: One day, as I assisted a surgeon, he had me reach into the patient&#039;s chest and turn his heart so he could work on it from a better angle. 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