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Christ’s Vision A Unified Family with Pastor Rick Warren · Voice of Rick warren

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Speaker 1: Well, today, as we look at God's word for our
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Speaker 1: daily hope, we're in part three of a short series
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Speaker 1: that I'm calling the awesome power of vision. And I
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Speaker 1: want us to look at Christ's vision for us, Christ's
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Speaker 1: vision for a unified family. You know, the night before
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Speaker 1: Jesus died on the cross, he took the 12 men
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Speaker 1: that he'd been training for his entire ministry to a
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Speaker 1: place where they could share the Passover meal together. Now
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Speaker 1: that place was called the upper room because it was
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Speaker 1: on the second floor of a building.
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Speaker 2: So it was an upper room.
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Speaker 1: These 12 men had been with Jesus for three and
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Speaker 1: a half years as they trained to be the leaders
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Speaker 1: of the church. Now, during the Passover meal, Jesus redefined
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Speaker 1: the Passover with new meaning to become the Lord's Supper.
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Speaker 1: During the Lord's Supper, Judas left the room to betray
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Speaker 1: Jesus and to have him arrested. So Jesus knows that
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Speaker 1: he's going to be dead and buried within 24 hours.
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Speaker 1: So he knows that whatever he's going to say now
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Speaker 1: would be his last words before death. Now, you know
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Speaker 1: that the last words of dying people are always extremely important.
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Speaker 1: And Jesus shared his most intimate thoughts in this passage.
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Speaker 1: What Jesus said in his last words before the cross
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Speaker 1: are found in the book of John, verses are chapter
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Speaker 1: 13 to chapter 17. Those five chapters in John are
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Speaker 1: called the upper room discourse. And this week, I want
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Speaker 1: to urge you to spend the week reading and rereading
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Speaker 1: John chapter 13 through 17, because it's packed. with powerful
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Speaker 1: spiritual truth that we desperately need, particularly in these days. Now,
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Speaker 1: in those five chapters, the two themes that Jesus spoke
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Speaker 1: the most about were number one, how much he loves us,
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Speaker 1: and number two, how much we must love each other
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Speaker 1: in the church. In fact, love is mentioned 21 times.
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Speaker 1: Let me just show you a couple of examples. John 15,
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Speaker 1: verse nine, just as the fathers loved me, so as I.
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Speaker 2: Have loved you.
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Speaker 1: Now you must live in my love. John 15, 12
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Speaker 1: and 13, I'm commanding you to love each other with
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Speaker 1: the same love, the same kind of love that I've
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Speaker 1: loved you. And here's how to measure that kind of love.
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Speaker 1: He says, the greatest love you could show is when
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Speaker 1: you lay down your life for friends. And that's exactly
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Speaker 1: what Jesus was gonna be doing in the next few hours.
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Speaker 1: John 15, 17, again, this is what I'm commanding you
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Speaker 1: to do.
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Speaker 2: You must love each other.
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Speaker 1: You get the point here? He keeps coming back to
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Speaker 1: the same theme. I love you, you gotta love each other. Now,
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Speaker 1: after Jesus shared his final words, he prayed his final
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Speaker 1: public prayer. before going to the cross. And that prayer
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Speaker 1: is recorded in John chapter 17. And I wanna start
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Speaker 1: today with it because it shows us Christ lays out
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Speaker 1: his vision for us, his family, the church. And Jesus
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Speaker 1: prays for us in John 17. John 17 verses one
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Speaker 1: and two, New International, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, Father,
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Speaker 1: the time has come, in other words, It's time for
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Speaker 1: me to go to the cross. It's time for me
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Speaker 1: to die for the sins of mankind. Glorify your son
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Speaker 1: so that your son may glorify you. And in the
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Speaker 1: first eight verses of Jesus' prayer in John 17, he
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Speaker 1: gives a ministry report to the father of all that
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Speaker 1: he's done with his disciples in the last three and
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Speaker 1: a half years. Then in verse nine, he prays for them.
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Speaker 1: And then he prays for all of us. who have
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Speaker 1: come to faith in Jesus because of them. Did you
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Speaker 1: know that Jesus prayed for you right before he was
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Speaker 1: arrested and sent to the cross to die for you?
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Speaker 1: John 17, nine to 11 says this, I'm not praying
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Speaker 1: for the world, but for those you've given me because
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Speaker 1: they belong to you. And now I'm departing the world
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Speaker 1: and I'm leaving them behind, Father. So protect them by
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Speaker 1: the power of your name so that, so that, listen,
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Speaker 1: they may be united together as one, just as we
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Speaker 1: are one. Now, let me point out that this is
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Speaker 1: the first mention of unity among Christians in Jesus' prayer,
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Speaker 1: but it's gonna be the primary theme of the whole prayer.
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Speaker 1: And what was on Jesus' mind the most as he
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Speaker 1: got ready to go to the cross was his own family,
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Speaker 1: the church, and that we would be united in love
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Speaker 1: after he died and rose again. He mentions it several
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Speaker 1: times in this prayer. In John 17, verses 20 and 21,
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Speaker 1: Jesus prays for you. He says this, I'm praying not
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Speaker 1: only for these disciples, but for all who will believe
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Speaker 1: in me because of their testimony.
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Speaker 2: That's you.
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Speaker 1: And my prayers for all of them, that they too,
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Speaker 1: that's us, will be one, unified with each other. Christians
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Speaker 1: approve who we are by being one with each other.
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, just as you are in me and I
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Speaker 1: am in you, so they will be in us and
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Speaker 1: the world will believe that you sent me. Now again,
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Speaker 1: just as Jesus is getting ready to die, he's most
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Speaker 1: concerned about what his followers in the church are gonna
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Speaker 1: be unified in love. It's uppermost in his mind. This
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Speaker 1: is the primary vision he has for us. It's what
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Speaker 1: he prayed, it's what he wanted. If something else had
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Speaker 1: been more important to Jesus, believe me, he would have
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Speaker 1: mentioned it in his prayer. So what I wanna do
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Speaker 1: in our time together today is look a little bit
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Speaker 1: closer at Christ's vision for us, a vision of unity,
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Speaker 1: because it's obviously important to him. Now, I don't have
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Speaker 1: time to show you all the verses that talk about
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Speaker 1: unity in the scripture, but I will tell you this,
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Speaker 1: that in the New Testament, it has more to say
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Speaker 1: about unity protecting unity among Christians than it has to
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Speaker 1: say about either heaven or hell.
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Speaker 2: Did you know that?
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Speaker 1: The Bible in the New Testament has more to say
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Speaker 1: about Christians loving each other than it says about heaven
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Speaker 1: or hell. In fact, God says so much about this
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Speaker 1: concept that I'm gonna have to split this message in
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Speaker 1: half and teach it in two parts. So today what
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Speaker 1: I'm gonna do is give you a quick survey of
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Speaker 1: what the Bible says about the importance of unity in
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Speaker 1: the church and why it matters so much. We're gonna
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Speaker 1: look at what Jesus said, what Paul said, and what
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Speaker 1: the first church did. And then in part two, we'll
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Speaker 1: look at the specifics of how we're to fulfill Christ's
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Speaker 1: vision for us in the second part. So today I
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Speaker 1: wanna summarize what God says about the importance of unity
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Speaker 1: among believers in about a dozen statements. And because of that,
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Speaker 1: I'm gonna go pretty fast and I'm gonna cover so
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Speaker 1: many verses that I'm gonna limit my commentary on many
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Speaker 1: of them. We're gonna just let God's word speak to
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Speaker 1: our hearts. All right, you ready here? 12 statements that
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Speaker 1: summarize all that the New Testament says about unity. Number one,
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Speaker 1: my unity with other believers is the proof that I'm saved.
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Speaker 1: My unity with other believers is the proof that I'm saved.
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Speaker 1: John 13, 34 and 35 says this.
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Speaker 2: Jesus is talking.
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Speaker 1: I'm giving you a new commandment. You must love each other.
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Speaker 1: You must love each other in the same way that
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Speaker 1: I have loved you. Your love for one another will
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Speaker 1: be the proof to the world that you really are
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Speaker 1: my disciples. You prove that you're a Christian, not with
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Speaker 1: a bumper sticker on your car and not by any
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Speaker 1: other action. The Bible says the proof that you really
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Speaker 1: are a Christian is that you love other Christians in
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Speaker 1: the church family.
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Speaker 2: All right.
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Speaker 1: Number two, write this down. The Trinity is our model
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Speaker 1: for unity. The Trinity is our model for unity. Jesus
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Speaker 1: explains this in verse 11 of John 17. He says
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Speaker 1: this in his prayer, Holy Father, protect them by the
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Speaker 1: power of your name, the name you gave me so that, listen,
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Speaker 1: so that they may be one with each other just
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Speaker 1: as we are one. I love God's word translation. It
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Speaker 1: says it like this, so that their unity may be
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Speaker 1: just like ours. The Trinity is the model, the Father, Son,
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Speaker 1: and Holy Spirit are in harmony and unity with each other.
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Speaker 2: The three are one.
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Speaker 1: And the Bible says that's the way we're to be
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Speaker 1: in the church. We're to be unified as one. Number three,
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Speaker 1: Jesus' last prayer, very last prayer before he goes to
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Speaker 1: cross was that we live in unity. John 17, 21,
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Speaker 1: my prayer for all of them is that they will
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Speaker 1: be one just as you and I are one Father.
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Speaker 1: that just as you are in me and I am
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Speaker 1: in you, so they will be in us and the
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Speaker 1: world will believe, the world will believe that you sent me.
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Speaker 1: Did you notice that Jesus ties other people coming to
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Speaker 1: Christ with our unity? He says other people will believe
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Speaker 1: when they see Christians loving each other in unity. I
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Speaker 1: love it in the message paraphrase translation. It says this,
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Speaker 1: verse 21, my goal for all of them is to
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Speaker 1: become one heart and mind. Just as you, Father, are
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Speaker 1: in me and I in you, may they be one
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Speaker 1: heart and mind along with us. Then the world may
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Speaker 1: believe that you sent me. This is Jesus' vision and
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Speaker 1: this is Jesus' goal for you and for me and
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Speaker 1: for anybody who claims the name of Christ. Now, in
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Speaker 1: the next verse of Jesus' prophecy, we learn the fourth principle,
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Speaker 1: and it's this. God gives us his glory so that
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Speaker 1: we'll be unified. God gives us his glory so that we,
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Speaker 1: as Christians, will be unified. John 17, 22, he says,
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Speaker 1: I've given them, talking to Christians, the glory you gave me,
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Speaker 1: so that, here's the so that, it's a henna clause
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Speaker 1: in Greek, so that they may be one just as
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Speaker 1: we are one. Now listen, what this means is this,
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Speaker 1: the purpose of God's presence in your life, the purpose
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Speaker 1: of God's power in our lives is to make us
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Speaker 1: more loving, not more harsh, not more opinionated, not more stubborn,
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Speaker 1: but more loving, He says, I gave them your glory
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Speaker 1: so that we may be one and they may be
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Speaker 1: one just as we are. Do you want God's glory
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Speaker 1: in your life? Do you want God's power in your life?
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Speaker 1: Do you wanna feel God's presence in your life? Jesus
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Speaker 1: says he gives his glory, that's his power, to those
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Speaker 1: who lay aside secondary differences with other Christians. The secondary differences,
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Speaker 1: the things that don't really matter and live in unity
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Speaker 1: with other believers. Now, the next verse gives us the
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Speaker 1: fifth truth about unity. Our unity, God says, is our
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Speaker 1: greatest witness to unbelievers. Our unity is our greatest witness
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Speaker 1: to unbelievers. That's verse 23. Jesus prayed this. May they
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Speaker 1: be brought into complete unity so that, there's another so that,
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Speaker 1: so that the world knows that you sent me. and
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Speaker 1: that you have loved them even as you have loved me. Now,
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Speaker 1: did you notice this is the second time that Jesus
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Speaker 1: connects the unity of Christians to winning the world to Christ?
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Speaker 1: He's saying that the world will not be one, W-O-N,
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Speaker 1: to Christ until Christians are one, O-N-E, in unity. We
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Speaker 1: will win the world when we're one in Christ. Another
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Speaker 1: way of saying it is this. If unbelievers like what
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Speaker 1: they see, they will listen to what we say. But
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Speaker 1: if they don't like what they see, they don't see
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Speaker 1: us loving each other, they're not gonna listen to what
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Speaker 1: we say. Again, I like the message translation of this verse,
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Speaker 1: John 17, 23. It says this, then they'll be mature
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Speaker 1: in their oneness, giving the godless world the evidence that
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Speaker 1: you've sent me. and that you've loved them in the
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Speaker 1: same way you've loved me. The evidence for atheists, the
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Speaker 1: evidence for agnostics, the evidence for other faiths is to
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Speaker 1: be the love Christians have for each other. Now, okay,
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Speaker 1: this is just some of what Jesus says about the
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Speaker 1: importance of unity. But now I want us to look
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Speaker 1: at how the first church in Jerusalem, in other words,
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Speaker 1: the first Christians, implemented and practiced and applied all the
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Speaker 1: verses we just looked at, what Jesus said about unity.
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Speaker 1: And to go to that, see that we've got to
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Speaker 1: go to the book of Acts where we learn two
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Speaker 1: more important truths about the power of unity in a
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Speaker 1: church family. Write this down. Here's the sixth truth we
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Speaker 1: learned from scripture. Unity removes fear and creates boldness. Unity
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Speaker 1: removes fear and creates boldness.
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Speaker 2: What am I saying?
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Speaker 1: That a unified church gives everybody more power and more
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Speaker 1: courage than a divided church.
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Speaker 2: Where do we find this?
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Speaker 1: In Acts chapter four, verse 24 and 31, the apostles
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Speaker 1: or the disciples, Peter and John had actually been put
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Speaker 1: in prison. They had done a miracle and they were
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Speaker 1: preaching in the name of Jesus and then they couldn't
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Speaker 1: hold them. So they let them out. And when they
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Speaker 1: came back to the church, it says in verse 24,
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Speaker 1: then all the believers united together in prayer.
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Speaker 2: That brings unity. When we pray together, it unifies us.
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Speaker 1: And it says, after this prayer, this unified prayer of
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Speaker 1: all the people in the church, it says, after the prayer.
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Speaker 2: The building where they were meeting shook. That's power. That
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Speaker 2: must've been a pretty powerful prayer.
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Speaker 1: The building where they were meeting shook and they were
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Speaker 1: all filled with God's Holy Spirit and they began to
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Speaker 1: speak God's message with boldness. Would you like to be
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Speaker 1: more fearless? Does fear plague you? Insecurity plague you? Anxiety
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Speaker 1: plague you?
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Speaker 2: Would you like to be more fearless? Would you like
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Speaker 2: to be more bold?
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Speaker 1: Do you wish you were more confident in sharing your faith?
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Speaker 1: Let me give you a little secret. Focus on your
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Speaker 1: unity with other Christians. The Bible says when they were unified,
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Speaker 1: they became bold in speaking the word of God. I
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Speaker 1: want you to write this down. Division creates fear. Unity
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Speaker 1: removes fear. Division creates fear. Wherever you find division in
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Speaker 1: a church, it's gonna create fear in that church. But
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Speaker 1: unity removes fear. Division destroys vision. But there's another thing
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Speaker 1: that we learned from the first Christians in the book
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Speaker 1: of Acts. And it's this, write this down. When a
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Speaker 1: church is unified, everybody's needs are met. When a church
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Speaker 1: is truly unified, truly unified the way Christ wants us
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Speaker 1: to be, everybody's needs, all the members' needs are met.
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Speaker 1: And we find an example of this in Acts 4,
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Speaker 1: verse 32. It says there, the entire group of believers,
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Speaker 1: that's the church, were completely united in their hearts and
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Speaker 1: in their spirit, and everybody shared their possessions with each other.
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Speaker 1: In fact, they shared everything they had. So nobody had
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Speaker 1: any need. The Bible tells us in Acts 2 that
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Speaker 1: this was impressive to the non-Christians in Jerusalem, that they
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Speaker 1: had the favor of people because they said, see how
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Speaker 1: they love one another. Okay. Now, we've looked at what
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, and we've looked at what the New Testament
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Speaker 1: Christians did in Jerusalem. Now, let's look at what Paul
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Speaker 1: has to say about Christ's vision for unity in the church.
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Speaker 1: Paul spends a lot of time talking about the importance
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Speaker 1: of unity in both his letters to the Corinthian church
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Speaker 1: in Corinth, the home in Greece, city in Greece, and
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Speaker 1: to the church at Ephesus. He says, it's a big deal.
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Speaker 2: Write this down. Number eight.
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Speaker 1: Here's the eighth in the summarizing all the Bible says
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Speaker 1: about unity. Baptism and communion are the visible signs of unity.
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Speaker 1: Baptism and communion are the visible signs of unity. Both
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Speaker 1: of them are symbols of our incorporation into the body
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Speaker 1: of Christ. Both of them visualize that we now don't
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Speaker 1: just belong to Christ, we belong to each other. If
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Speaker 1: you've been baptized, if you've taken communion, You don't just
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Speaker 1: belong to Jesus. You belong to others, everybody else in
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Speaker 1: the family of God, everybody else in your church family. Now, first,
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Speaker 1: baptism is a sign that I intend to protect the
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Speaker 1: unity of the church family that I belong to.
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Speaker 2: You say, where's that?
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Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 12, 12 and 13 says this, for just
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Speaker 1: as your body is a unity, even though it has
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Speaker 1: many different parts, It is with Christ's body the same,
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Speaker 1: he says, the church. It's just same way. He says,
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Speaker 1: we're all different. Just look around in our church. Obviously,
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Speaker 1: we're all different, but we form one body. We've all
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Speaker 1: been baptized into Christ's body by the same spirit, no
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Speaker 1: matter whether we were Jews or Greeks or slaves or
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Speaker 1: free men, We have now all received the same spirit.
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Speaker 1: He said, no matter what your culture background is, your
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Speaker 1: racial background is, your religious background is, your national background is.
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Speaker 2: He said, doesn't matter.
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Speaker 1: He says, we've all received the same spirit. We've been
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Speaker 1: baptized into the body of Christ. He says, it doesn't
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Speaker 1: matter what your background is. Now you are unified with
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Speaker 1: every other Christian, regardless of your distances, differences, which means
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Speaker 1: I have more in common for instance, with an Asian
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Speaker 1: woman who's a believer in Christ than I would have
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Speaker 1: in common with an American male, six foot two man.
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Speaker 1: We have physical commonalities, but my real commonality is with
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Speaker 1: my brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, Paul points out
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Speaker 1: that not only baptism, but also taking communion is a
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Speaker 1: sign of unity. 1 Corinthians 10, 16 and 17 says this,
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Speaker 1: when we eat the bread that we break together, talking
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Speaker 1: about the bread of communion, isn't that sharing in the
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Speaker 1: body of Christ? And by sharing in the same loaf
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Speaker 1: of bread, we become one body, even though there are
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Speaker 1: many of us. By the way, let me point out,
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Speaker 1: the Bible also says that you should not take communion
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Speaker 1: if you're out of unity with anybody else in your
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Speaker 1: church family. Bible says that you actually eat judgment on yourself.
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Speaker 1: You should not take communion if you're out of fellowship,
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Speaker 1: out of unity with anybody else in your church family. Now,
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Speaker 1: here's the ninth thing that God says about unity.
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Speaker 2: In the church. Write this down.
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Speaker 1: Focusing on our common purpose is what creates unity. Focusing
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Speaker 1: on our common purpose creates unity. We find this in
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Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 1.10. I love this in the New Living Translation.
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Speaker 1: Dear brothers and sisters, I appeal to you by the
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Speaker 1: authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves.
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Speaker 2: He's talking to church members. Stop arguing among yourselves.
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Speaker 1: Doesn't matter what you're arguing about, just stop arguing among yourselves.
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Speaker 1: Let there be real harmony so there won't be any
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Speaker 1: divisions in the church. Paul says, I plead with you
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Speaker 1: to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
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Speaker 1: If you're taking notes, circle that word purpose. God says,
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Speaker 1: I want you to be united in purpose. Paul's saying,
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Speaker 1: Be purpose-driven in your church. Not program-driven, not pressure-driven, not power-driven,
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Speaker 1: not pleasure-driven, not popularity-driven, not personality-driven, not politics-driven. He said
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Speaker 1: be united in purpose.
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Speaker 2: That's key.
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Speaker 1: All right, just a couple more. Here's the next insight,
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Speaker 1: number 10. Summarizing what the Bible says about unity.
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Speaker 2: Unity begins... when we.
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Speaker 1: Realize we're incomplete without each other. Unity begins when you
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Speaker 1: and I, Christians, realize that we are incomplete without each other.
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Speaker 1: We need each other. God wired us in such a
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Speaker 1: way that nobody gets all the gifts. I don't have
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Speaker 1: them all, you don't have them all. That's why we
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Speaker 1: need each other. 1 Corinthians 12, 20 and 21 and
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Speaker 1: verse 25 says this, yes, We're all different parts in
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Speaker 1: Christ's body, but there's still only one body.
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Speaker 2: Okay, so yeah, we.
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Speaker 1: Got different gifts. We got different background. We're different races.
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Speaker 1: We're different sizes, shapes. We're different gender. Yeah, we're all
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Speaker 1: different parts of the body of Christ, but we're still
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Speaker 1: just one body. So he says, the eye can't say
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Speaker 1: to the hand, I don't need you. And the head
22:02
Speaker 1: can't say to the feet, I don't need you. He says,
22:05
Speaker 1: there must never be any division in the body allowed.
22:09
Speaker 1: This is the scripture talking. There must never be any
22:12
Speaker 1: division in the body allowed. Instead, all the members must
22:18
Speaker 1: care for each other equally.
22:21
Speaker 2: Equally.
22:23
Speaker 1: In other words, showing equal care. The Christian church is
22:27
Speaker 1: the place of all places. There should be equality everywhere.
22:30
Speaker 2: And justice.
22:31
Speaker 1: We are to care for each other equally, not show preference,
22:34
Speaker 1: not show prejudice, not show bias. There must never be
22:38
Speaker 1: any division in the body, he says. Instead, all the
22:41
Speaker 1: members must care for each other equally. By the way,
22:45
Speaker 1: this is your job. It's not just a pastor's job.
22:48
Speaker 1: It's your job as a Christian to protect the unity
22:53
Speaker 1: of your family, your church family, And the Bible talks
22:57
Speaker 1: about removing anybody who creates division or disunity and ensure
23:01
Speaker 1: that your brothers and sisters are treated equally with equality.
23:06
Speaker 2: Now related to this is the next.
23:07
Speaker 1: Verse, 1 Corinthians 12, 26 and 27.
23:11
Speaker 2: Listen to this.
23:13
Speaker 1: This is another part that enhances unity in the church.
23:17
Speaker 1: When one part of the body suffers, every other part
23:20
Speaker 1: is to suffer with it. And when one part of
23:23
Speaker 1: the body is honored, Every other part of the body
23:26
Speaker 1: is to rejoice with it. Together, not individually, you are
23:31
Speaker 1: the body of Christ. You're not the body of Christ
23:33
Speaker 1: by yourself. I'm not the body of Christ by myself. Together,
23:37
Speaker 1: we are the body of Christ. And each one of
23:39
Speaker 1: you is a part of that body and you're a
23:42
Speaker 1: necessary part. So he says, when somebody's suffering, You need
23:48
Speaker 1: to be empathetic. And somebody's going through pain, be empathetic.
23:52
Speaker 1: Somebody's hurting, be empathetic. Somebody's frustrated, be empathetic. Empathy is
23:57
Speaker 1: a key to unity.
23:59
Speaker 2: You write that down.
24:00
Speaker 1: The more empathetic I am, the more I'm gonna be
24:05
Speaker 1: able to build the unity of the church. Okay, number 11.
24:11
Speaker 1: Jesus died to unite us, not to divide us. That's
24:18
Speaker 1: why it's so important what we're talking about. This is
24:21
Speaker 1: not some minor issue we're covering this week. Jesus died
24:26
Speaker 1: to unite us, to reconcile us, not to divide us.
24:30
Speaker 1: Ephesians 2.16 says this in the TEV translation. By his
24:35
Speaker 1: death on the cross, Christ reconciled us and united different
24:41
Speaker 1: races into one body. He brought us all back to
24:47
Speaker 1: God Ending hostility. Ending hostility. That's what Jesus did on
24:54
Speaker 1: the cross. He reconciled us and united all the different
24:57
Speaker 1: kinds of people into one body. In fact, in Ephesians,
25:01
Speaker 1: it says we're a new race together. He brought us
25:05
Speaker 1: all back to God, ending hostility. I love how the
25:07
Speaker 1: Living Bible puts it. This verse, Ephesians 2.16, it says,
25:11
Speaker 1: the feud ended at the cross.
25:15
Speaker 2: The feud ended.
25:17
Speaker 1: At the cross, there's no place for any kind of
25:19
Speaker 1: bigotry or preferential treatment. Finally, number 12, Jesus, write this down.
25:26
Speaker 1: Jesus expects me to work hard at unifying Christians. This
25:33
Speaker 1: is not something for somebody else. If you claim to
25:36
Speaker 1: be a Christian, this is part of your job description.
25:39
Speaker 1: Jesus expects me to work hard at unifying Christians in
25:44
Speaker 1: the church family. Ephesians 4.3 says this, make every effort,
25:49
Speaker 1: circle that, make every effort to keep the unity of
25:54
Speaker 1: the spirit. Bind yourselves together by living in peace with
26:00
Speaker 1: each other. That's a direct statement from God's word. One
26:05
Speaker 1: day we'll stand before God and he'll say, did you
26:06
Speaker 1: do that? Did you make every effort to keep the
26:09
Speaker 1: unity of the spirit in your church family? Did you
26:12
Speaker 1: bind yourselves together with everybody else to live in peace
26:15
Speaker 1: with each other? I wanna share a personal grief with you,
26:22
Speaker 1: and it's this. I am saddened, actually, I'm heartbroken that
26:28
Speaker 1: today's Christians are known more for other things than our
26:34
Speaker 1: love for each other. We're not known for what I'm
26:37
Speaker 1: talking about today, what God says in his word. You know,
26:42
Speaker 1: if you were to take a survey, go out on
26:43
Speaker 1: the street and ask 1,000 people on the street, what
26:47
Speaker 1: do you think of first When you think of a
26:50
Speaker 1: born-again Christian, what do you think the answer would be,
26:55
Speaker 1: the number one answer would be? What do you think
26:57
Speaker 1: it would be, the number one answer? What do you
26:59
Speaker 1: think of when you think of a born-again Christian? I
27:02
Speaker 1: seriously doubt if you asked 1,000 people that anyone, anyone
27:07
Speaker 1: would say, man, those guys really love each other. They really,
27:13
Speaker 1: really love each other.
27:16
Speaker 2: That's what we'd be known for.
27:18
Speaker 1: It's the one thing that Jesus wants us to be
27:21
Speaker 1: known for. I think the one thing that Jesus wants
27:25
Speaker 1: us to be known for wouldn't even make the list.
27:30
Speaker 2: That's how off.
27:30
Speaker 1: Course the contemporary church is today. My brothers and my
27:38
Speaker 1: sisters in our family called Saddleback, we need to practice
27:43
Speaker 1: Philippians chapter one, verse 27, 28. This should be one
27:48
Speaker 1: of our key verses this next year. I love it
27:51
Speaker 1: in the message, it says this, no matter what happens, okay,
27:56
Speaker 1: COVID or not COVID, politics or no politics, riots or
28:02
Speaker 1: no riots, no matter what happens, live in such a
28:06
Speaker 1: way that you are a credit to the good news
28:10
Speaker 1: of Christ.
28:12
Speaker 2: Stand united, stand united.
28:17
Speaker 1: Singular in vision, contending for people's trust in the gospel.
28:22
Speaker 1: In other words, caring about what they think about the
28:24
Speaker 1: gospel more than what they think about anything else. Not
28:27
Speaker 1: flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition. And
28:34
Speaker 1: then he says this, your courage and your unity will
28:39
Speaker 1: show them, the opposition, what they're up against. Defeat for them,
28:45
Speaker 1: victory for you, and both because of God.
28:49
Speaker 2: Wow.
28:51
Speaker 1: Now in part two of this message, we're going to
28:53
Speaker 1: look at the practical ways that God wants us to
28:57
Speaker 1: implement Christ's vision for us. This is the vision of
29:00
Speaker 1: Christ for you. It's the vision of Christ for our church.
29:04
Speaker 1: So we'll look at the practical steps in the next message.
29:07
Speaker 1: But I wanna close with a couple more verses. And
29:11
Speaker 1: I wanna make a statement that you've probably never thought
29:13
Speaker 1: of before.
29:14
Speaker 2: Here's the statement. Jesus is still waiting for us to.
29:23
Speaker 1: Be the answer to his prayer 2,000 years later. Jesus
29:29
Speaker 1: is still waiting for us to be the answer to
29:32
Speaker 1: his prayer. When he prayed that we would be one,
29:36
Speaker 1: that the world would look at the church and go, man,
29:37
Speaker 1: those people love each other.
29:40
Speaker 2: The subject that.
29:41
Speaker 1: Was uppermost in his mind as he's getting ready to
29:44
Speaker 1: go to the cross was this, that we, his children,
29:46
Speaker 1: would be unified.
29:47
Speaker 2: Unified.
29:49
Speaker 1: That we would defend each other, not criticize each other,
29:52
Speaker 1: that we would love each other, not argue with each other,
29:54
Speaker 1: that we, his family, would model love, that we, his family,
29:59
Speaker 1: would not be divided over secondary issues, but that we
30:04
Speaker 1: would make our allegiance to each other the priority over
30:09
Speaker 1: any other allegiance.
30:12
Speaker 2: You know, Satan... hates the unity of the church. He
30:16
Speaker 2: hates the unity of Christians. Why?
30:18
Speaker 1: Because the unified church is unstoppable. In the first five
30:22
Speaker 1: chapters of Acts, it talks about Acts and the unity
30:25
Speaker 1: they had in the first church. We will have the
30:27
Speaker 1: power of Acts. We will have the miracle of Acts
30:30
Speaker 1: when we have the unity of Acts. Satan hates the
30:33
Speaker 1: unity of Christians. He's the divider. He's the source of
30:36
Speaker 1: all conflict.
30:38
Speaker 2: Why?
30:39
Speaker 1: Because he knows a divided church is a powerless church.
30:44
Speaker 1: So I wanna close this message by echoing a prayer
30:49
Speaker 1: that Paul prayed. And honestly, friends, it's my deepest prayer
30:55
Speaker 1: for you. It's my deepest prayer for me. It's my
30:58
Speaker 1: deepest prayer for our church family. And by the way,
31:01
Speaker 1: for every other church family too, I pray this. Colossians 2.2
31:07
Speaker 1: in the Living Bible says this, this is what I
31:10
Speaker 1: have asked of God for you. that you will be
31:15
Speaker 1: encouraged and knit together by the strong ties of love,
31:22
Speaker 1: by strong ties of love. One day you're gonna get
31:27
Speaker 1: to heaven and you're gonna stand before God. And he's
31:31
Speaker 1: not gonna ask you, how much money did you make
31:34
Speaker 1: in life?
31:36
Speaker 2: He's not gonna ask you, how much education did you get?
31:42
Speaker 1: He's not going to ask you, did you convert anybody
31:44
Speaker 1: to your political views?
31:46
Speaker 2: Who'd you vote for?
31:47
Speaker 1: He's not going to ask that. He's not going to ask,
31:50
Speaker 1: did you enjoy retirement? But it is much more likely
31:55
Speaker 1: that God will ask, did you learn? You really learn
32:00
Speaker 1: to love your brothers and sisters in my family, even
32:05
Speaker 1: those who didn't agree with you. Did you learn to
32:10
Speaker 1: love the members of the family who were different to you,
32:13
Speaker 1: different background? You see, my dear friends, what I'm saying
32:19
Speaker 1: today is the bottom line is this. One of the
32:24
Speaker 1: five purposes of life is learning how to really love.
32:30
Speaker 1: And the church is the laboratory for that. It's how
32:33
Speaker 1: we are to practice learning how to really love, because
32:36
Speaker 1: we don't do it very good. Nobody teaches you how
32:39
Speaker 1: to really love. But the Bible says without love, I'm nothing.
32:44
Speaker 1: And the Bible also says the only thing that matters
32:46
Speaker 1: is faith expressed through love. So I have to ask myself,
32:51
Speaker 1: as I look at all these verses we've run through,
32:53
Speaker 1: I have to ask myself, is this the top priority
32:56
Speaker 1: in my life? Loving other Christians? And I have to
33:02
Speaker 1: urge you to ask yourself that question. And when part two,
33:07
Speaker 1: as I said, we're gonna look at the practical steps
33:09
Speaker 1: that each of them can take, but I'll end with
33:11
Speaker 1: one other verse, Colossians 3, 14. And the new century
33:16
Speaker 1: version says, this is what God says to those of
33:19
Speaker 1: us who are in the family of God, quote, most
33:23
Speaker 1: important of all, most important of all, love each other.
33:30
Speaker 1: Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity. See,
33:36
Speaker 1: unity is just the visible expression of love. I want
33:44
Speaker 1: you to read John 13 to 17 over and over
33:48
Speaker 1: this next week in your quiet time because it'll help
33:53
Speaker 1: you understand Christ's vision for you and for our church.
33:58
Speaker 1: We'll cover the rest next week. Now, If you're not
34:00
Speaker 1: a part of the family of God, then you need
34:03
Speaker 1: to become a part today because it's the only thing
34:05
Speaker 1: that's going to last.
34:07
Speaker 2: Nothing else is going to last. No career is going
34:09
Speaker 2: to last.
34:11
Speaker 1: No education is going to last. No marriage is going
34:13
Speaker 1: to last. No nation is going to last. The only
34:17
Speaker 1: thing that's going to last on this earth for eternity
34:19
Speaker 1: is the church.
34:20
Speaker 2: It's the family of God.
34:21
Speaker 1: God created the universe because he wanted a family. And
34:25
Speaker 1: you need to become a part of God's family today.
34:27
Speaker 2: How?
34:27
Speaker 1: By committing your life to Jesus Christ. If you haven't
34:31
Speaker 1: done that, you need to just open your life to Christ. Say,
34:34
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, forgive me and accept me into your kingdom,
34:38
Speaker 1: into your church, into your family. I want to be
34:42
Speaker 1: what you want me to be. I want to fulfill
34:45
Speaker 1: your purpose for my life. Let me lead you in
34:47
Speaker 1: a prayer. Let's bow our heads right now. And you
34:50
Speaker 1: can just say this prayer in your heart. Jesus Christ,
34:52
Speaker 1: I don't understand it all, but as much as I
34:54
Speaker 1: know how, I ask you to come into my life.
34:59
Speaker 2: Please change me.
35:01
Speaker 1: Replace the fear and anxiety and self-centeredness with your love.
35:08
Speaker 1: I wanna learn to love you and I wanna learn
35:11
Speaker 1: to love your family. And I humbly ask you to
35:14
Speaker 1: accept me into your family by grace. I don't deserve it,
35:19
Speaker 1: but I put my faith in your grace. Thank you
35:22
Speaker 1: for dying on the cross for me. Help me to
35:25
Speaker 1: understand that. I pray this humbly in your name. Amen. Amen.