Our Pursuit: One Spirit, One Church

0:00How y'all doing? Yeah, I'm doing good too. I'm doing good too. Moat the grass for the first time for the season yesterday. And it sounds way more fun in my mind than in practice. Either that or I'm just getting older. But good morning. I do want to give a shout out one more time. We launched, relaunched our young adults ministry last Thursday night. And that was amazing. And it's led by our young adults. And it was just so cool. And I was able to sneak in, even though I'm the old guy, hide in the corner. But guys, I just want you to picture this generation 20 to 30 years old or so. And they're in a house with no agenda other than to worship God. Seek his word and build community. It looked like an axe to church last Thursday night. And these, these I call them students, these young people are passionate about Jesus Christ.

1:01And they love him. And he loves you, too, guys. And your pastor loves you. And so I just want to honor you guys. There's so many cool things going on here at Great Oaks Fellowship. But I really do feel we miss a lot of things to be able to share and promote. But man, I'm telling you, God is doing so many amazing things in this ministry. And it is such an honor that I get to come to this church. I'm serious. I love being here. And we love you guys, man. So let's pray. Yeah, we'll pray. And then I'll tell you everything you need to know. Okay. So Father, thank you for this morning. It's a beautiful morning that you've created. This is the day, Lord, that you have made. And so today, may we rejoice and be glad in it. Father, I pray right now for those who are coming in with heavy hearts, for those who are coming in with frustrated minds, for those who are facing mountains that they don't know how to navigate. Lord, I'm asking for a fresh wind of your Holy Spirit. Even now, come Holy Spirit of the living God.

2:01Would you fall fresh upon us in this nine o'clock hour today? Lord, we love you. We need you. But what I'm asking, Lord, is that we would note today in a very real time-sensitive way. Your love for us. May we know our worth, would you reveal our worth in your eyes to us and that we would walk in the fullness of that truth? We are free. We're loved. We're forgiven. We're purposed. We're chosen. We are a royal priesthood through Christ. So Lord, as we open your word today, may you testify fully to the full council of it today. Lord, would you show us, Lord, blind spots in our lives? Would you reveal them in that we would let them go? And Lord, may we walk in purity and holiness, enjoy and peace, grace and truth? Great oaks, just ask the Lord.

3:02Just say, come, Jesus. Come, Jesus now. We invite you here. Be center. In Jesus' name. In our hearts and minds. Amen. Amen. So, I want to welcome everybody. If you're new here, welcome to Great Oaks Fellowship. We really are thankful that you're here. We hope that you are made to feel right at home. The other thing is I want to welcome all of our friends and family worshiping with us online. So, Great Oaks, can we give a big ol' fat welcome for everybody in here? Yes. Welcome in the name of Jesus Christ. So, over the course of this series, our pursuit. Once again, this is a word that the Lord has given to our church. He's inviting us. He says, pursue me. There's more that I want to do in your life, in your marriages, in your homes, and in Great Oaks Fellowship. And so, He's inviting us to pursue Him. Imagine that. He wants you to pursue Him. And the thing is, is that He shows up. He's ready to show up. He says, pursue me and I'll make it easy. One thing that I've said before.

4:02It sounds a little irreverent, but it's not. But what God has created all things except one thing that I've learned. He's really not that great at Heiden Gohseek. He really makes it super easy to be found. Found. He wants to be found. He wants you to seek Him first in His kingdom. And He says, when you do all these other things that you need or looking for in your life will be given unto you. That's a promise from Jesus. And so, we've looked at a lot of facets so far about what it means to pursue the Lord. He's so good. This morning, what we're going to be talking about it, what does it mean to pursue God by pursuing unity with Him and with one another? Now, here's the thing. I was sharing this with our team right before we started this morning. And I want you to understand, I don't think there's one person in here that probably disagrees with the concept of unity. Is there anybody in here who just hates the unity? Let me see a show of hands. Okay, I see the devil's hand back there.

5:02Anybody else? The devil loves unity. So we all agree. Can we all agree that unity is a good thing? Can we just get on, I just need to get a sense here. Okay, unity is great. Here's the problem that we may run into in this sermon. We all just agreed that unity is awesome. If that's the case, then I have nothing to preach because we've already hit the bull's eye, right? But here's the thing. That is a false bottom, okay? Because what we have to look at, and we need to now invite the Lord to show us areas in our lives, while we love unity, where are the areas that we are participating in creating disunity? In our church, now let me just give this disclaimer really quickly. I share this with the team as well. I'm not preaching to one person in this room that I got a problem with, okay? I'm not here to kick all of you just so I can get to, there's no issues here.

6:04Okay, a great oaks fellowship that I'm aware of anyway. We are a pretty unified bunch. I think we come in and we like to have a good time. We love the Lord. We love one another. And for those we don't love. We at least like them, right? And so it's working well. But here's the thing in the church, but also in our homes. It's one thing to walk in unity here because we only interact with one another for roughly about an hour once a week. You can do unity for one hour a week, right? But what about the people you live with 168 hours a week, wives, husbands, children, in your workplace, wherever these relationships are, potentially outside of the church. Where is their disunity and what part are we playing in it? We're going to talk about that. So that's where I believe the Lord wants us to go because we all agree that unity is awesome. But unity doesn't just mean us getting our own way personally and calling that unity.

7:07All right, I'm going to let the word now speak for itself. So I got to set this up. But Jesus says during the 40 days after he suffered and died, if you're new to Christ or you're just checking God out, what you have to understand is that Jesus came from heaven, perfect, lived a sinless life here on this earth, to then go to the cross and die as a criminal even though he was perfect. He died and he took our place on the cross because we are the lawbreakers, we are the criminals, we are the ones who have sinned and yet Jesus became sin, who knew no sin so that we may become the righteousness of God. He took our place, then he went to the tomb three days later, he conquered death, hell, and he also overcame and broke the power of sin itself. So that anybody who would call upon his name can be saved.

8:10We don't have to die on our own cross. We don't have to walk the road of regret and shame all of our lives. Jesus took it upon himself and then he gives us this gift of salvation that anybody who confesses who believes in their heart that Jesus is Lord and confesses with their mouth that he is Lord and it rose from the dead on the third day. They will be saved. It's a gift and we say, wow, please, and thank you. He's worthy of it all. He's paid it all. Jesus did it. Okay, I guess you're saving all your amons for Easter Sunday. All right. That's the best news you'll ever hear in your life for all of eternity. What I just literally just said right now is the best news you will ever hear. So he's risen from the dead. This is where we go. So during the 40 days after he suffered and died, he rose physically from the dead, okay? And he appeared to the apostles from time to time and he proved, everyone say proved. He really did rise from the dead.

9:10He proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the kingdom of God. Well, once he was eating with them, well, that means he resurrected with a physical body. He was having food and dinner with them and he told them he said, don't leave Jerusalem. Until the father sends you the gift he promised as I told you before. Well, what is this gift? Well, Jesus explains. He said, well, John baptized with water. He said, Jesus says, but in a few days, he said, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, okay? Well, sure enough, in Acts chapter two, 50 days after the resurrection, here we go. Acts chapter two, verse one, on the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place. And suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like a roaring of a mighty wind storm.

10:10And it filled the house where they were sitting, very similar to a setup right here, hanging out. People who love Jesus and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit falls upon them. So what just happened here? This is critical because this matters to us more than we may realize. These believers and all who would believe in Jesus up to those sitting in this room, this very moment, to anyone who calls upon his name in faith for salvation, become one spirit with Christ. So son and daughter of God, I understand why you would say this. But there are those sitting in this room listening right now and you say, I feel very far from God. I feel so far from God. Can I tell you, that is false. If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ alone, not your good works, not your performance, but in Jesus alone,

11:14you can't be far from Him. And the reason why it's not even a matter of proximity and closeness like this, He lives within side of you. He's in you. You're not far from Him. Wherever you go, He goes. Okay? So you have to understand that. When we say we feel far from God is because we've messed up and we feel distance, but there's no distance, except in your thinking. Okay? But yeah, what just happened in this moment? It was just a group of people that look like us. And in this moment, no longer are they divided or segregated by skin color, or culture, or social status, or gender. They became unified in Christ by the Holy Spirit. Okay. Ephesians puts it this way. So here's where we're going. And I want us to understand what that means.

12:14Because in Ephesians it explains, it says, so in light of what you just heard, there is now how many bodies? One body and how many Spirit? One Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that lives in you Christian is inside of me, too. We share one Spirit. Okay? Just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future, there's not many hopes for the future. There's not many roads to God. Jesus made the way because He was the only one that couldn't make a way. That is it. One God, one Spirit, one body, one hope, one future. We all share the same future if we are in Christ. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all, who is overall and in all, and guess what?

13:20Living through all of us. Okay? It's crazy, isn't it? So since the Holy Spirit is now released into redeemed sons and daughters of God who have been washed by the blood of Jesus, who have surrendered their lives to Him, the Holy Spirit is released into the hearts of brothers and sisters in Christ and they become one. What does that mean? That means this morning, guys. Whether we want to understand it, get it, or don't, do you realize that we are one in Spirit this morning by God's design? There is no me and you and her and Him if we are in Christ we're one in Him. It's crazy. Look at this picture of unity in the first church. So once they're filled with the Holy Spirit and they're operating with one hope, one salvation, one God, right? All the things that we just read in Ephesians, here's what happened.

14:22What's the first word out of that verse? The Lord has not changed his model for his church. All of us. All the believers were united. United in heart and mind. I think we can get the concept of being united in heart because we just go, yeah, there's something good in there, I'm sure. We're a Holy Spirit, yeah, we're united in heart. But how many of us are united in mind? You see, he got quiet and the clap stopped and I understand why? Because we have opinions about stuff. We have preferences about things. We have ideas of how things should be. We also have perspectives and we're all individual and so when we talk about unity, I'm not, the Bible is not saying uniformity. Where we all have to think of like doing like everything, right? There are core issues that we hold on to and the core issues are very few that we stake our lives on.

15:33Like if we're facing a gun barrel type of core issues, like this is something I will die for. Jesus is Lord, he physically resurrected, born of a virgin, conquered sin and death, right? Holy Spirit, the Trinity Father Son, Holy Spirit, there are close handed core beliefs that you go, nope, this is it, this is what I believe, but it's only a handful. There's our core beliefs, there's our core beliefs and then David, what's the second one? Then we have convictions, thank you. And our convictions are shaped by our beliefs, but these are convictions that we hold, where do we get our convictions from? From the Bible, the Bible informs and shows us what our convictions are. These are our principles by which we live by. David, help me out with the third one. What is it? But then there's opinions. There's a real crass way I could put it, but I won't, but some of y'all know about opinions.

16:36Everybody's got one. I'll just leave it there. Let you finish us statement and confess it, but here's a thing. Everybody's got opinions. The problem is guys, even in church, and I know this is going to be hard to believe, even in marriage. We have opinions, and we think our opinions are our core beliefs. So we become opinionated, and so we have very strong opinions, but we're unwilling to forego them for the sake of pursuing unity to walk in oneness with one another. Because I have opinions about things. We'll congratulations. You're one of a billion people on planet earth that have opinions about things. Your opinions are your opinions, but they're not core beliefs, nor are they should be convictions. You have perspectives, you have opinions. And then on the outside of that, you've got questions.

17:38And that's okay. We can ask questions, because we're all should be open minded enough to seek answers, and here are other people's thoughts about things. And it shapes us and informs us, but man, that opinion circle. Oh my gosh, we get locked into that. And the reason why I'm bringing this up is because primarily what creates division within a church, and division within marriages and homes, are we take opinions, and we make them core beliefs. The problem with that is our society and our culture has allowed opinions to be a dividing line. And if you don't agree with my opinion on this, my opinion on that, my opinion on this, if you don't agree with that, then you are a bad person, and I cannot walk in right fellowship with you because you're bad. You're a bad person, and as a matter of fact, you'll even hear some people say they should all die because they don't agree with my opinion. Well, guess what?

18:42While we not an agreement, and it's true, right? We know this. We also, in our immaturity, have also allowed our opinions to start ebbing into our core beliefs. And if your opinion doesn't align with my opinion, now we're in disunity. Because now there's a standoff. Okay? Well, here, because the Holy Spirit has arrived, and the hearts of men and women just like you and I saved by Jesus, look at what happened. It says, they were so united in heart and mind that they felt that what they owned was not even their own anymore. This is Bible. This is how Christians act when they have the Holy Spirit in them and submit it to the Holy Spirit. So what they did is they just shared everything that they had. The apostles then testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great blessing was upon them all.

19:42Y'all check that out. He sees unity, and he sees that everybody's open-handed with all that they have, talents, money, resources, whatever those things were. They're like, oh, it's for the kingdom, it's for you, it's for me. We'll just share, we'll figure this out because we're family. If there's a need, we meet the need, because that's what good families do. So they didn't consider that their cars, their homes, their mutton, none of it. They're just like, it just belongs to all of us. Now, this is not a sermon about tithing, but we do see a response to someone submitted to the Holy Spirit does not hold on to that cash-type fisted. They go, no, if it advances the kingdom, if it helps my family, who cares? God's got me. I'll trust. Yes, of course. Why would I squabble with the Lord? Oh, I don't believe in 10%, you know, or whatever. Okay, great. Good for you. I don't believe in a lot of things either, but it doesn't mean that they're right. You see that we have opinions, and our opinions shape a lot more than what we think.

20:49So the apostles then testified to the resurrection of the Lord, but look what happens when people are operating by this one spirit we share. Same spirit here in the scripture, it lives in you. Isn't that crazy? It lives in us. And God's great blessing was upon them all. What we see here is the Lord blesses unity. Do you want God's great blessing in your life? Of course. Do you want God's great blessing in your marriage? Yes, we do. Then we're gonna have to learn the biblical model of pursuing unity with one another. The reason why this matters more than we think is because if there's disunity in your life, in your marriage, in your church, wherever you are, if there is disunity to the level by which you can bring it, okay, and foster and protect it, if there's not disunity, you're not gonna like this.

21:55If there's disunity in your marriage, let's just, I feel like the Lord wants to go back to that. If there's disunity in your marriage, not disagreements, because God knows we all have PhDs and those. But if our North Star for this couple is to go, we have the Holy Spirit in us, which means it unifies us, which means there's a way forward that we can't see from our perspectives that God can show us how to walk in unity. If you don't have unity in your marriage, it's because you or both parties are not walking in unity with Jesus. Because if you're walking in unity with Christ, you will see how to pursue unity with one another. But that can apply to any situation. Joe, like that, yeah, you didn't like that too much, I know, it's okay. But look at this, because the unifying element of the Holy Spirit was in this body of believers, there were no needy people among them, because those who owned land and houses,

23:01they would just sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give those in need. Guys, real talk, I don't know if I'm at a place in my life where I could sell my house and then just make sure you have what you need. I love you, I don't know if I'm at a place of maturity where I'm willing to put that baby up for sale and just figure it out. But I want to grow towards that. But all of a sudden, 10% tithe doesn't sound that extreme anymore, does it? We'll leave that there. But what a picture. This is a snapshot of what great oaks operating in unity by the Spirit can look like. You see, this is an answer to prayer, because before Jesus went to the cross, he prayed this prayer out loud, so everybody could hear it. And Jesus prayed out loud to the Father and he said, I am praying, Lord, not only for these disciples, so the one standing there, he said, but I'm also praying for those who will ever believe in me through their message.

24:05Do you realize when Jesus prayed that, he was thinking about us too? He said, anybody that puts their faith in me, I'm praying for them to Jesus had you in mind because he's God when he prayed this to the Father. Imagine that. So Jesus had great oaks fellowship in mind, he had your marriages in mind, he had our homes in mind, he had our lives in mind when he prayed this. And then he goes on to say, he says, I, here's what I'm praying, Father, y'all ready? He said, I pray that they will all be what? One. Just, he said, Jesus is saying in the exact way that, Father, you and I are one. No difference. As you are in me, Father, and I am in you, may they be in us so that the world will believe that you actually sent me.

25:07What a prayer. That wasn't a wish. This is how it can work. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to invade our lives and be an answer to Jesus' prayer. Jesus goes on to pray. He says, I have given them the glory you've given me so that they may be one, Father, as you and I are one. Perfect unity. Jesus explains a further in this prayer. He says, Father, I am in them. And you are in me. May the experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. If you've put your faith in Jesus' Christian, what we just saw here is Jesus explained something that we can gloss over. If you've put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, one God, one salvation, one faith, okay?

26:15You receive the Holy Spirit. And what Jesus said is, this salvation is so powerful that Father, Jesus said, the same love that you got for me, you will then have for them. So that means God Almighty God loves you at the same level of intensity that he loves the Son. You are loved by God, not in a generic way, but with the same passion, intimacy and intensity as he loves Jesus Christ. You're loved the same way. Do we believe that? Is it that hard to fathom? Well, that's what Jesus just said. So take it up with him. But what we see here is that pursuing one another in unity proves that Jesus is real and the gospel is true.

27:16So this is so critical for us to understand, do not only be aware of this, but preserve and protect unity guys. Because when we walk in disunity, and we post online in disunity, and our words and our opinions look and sound just like the world Jesus is saying, you are actually making a case to the world as a Christian that I didn't really come. The identifying factor that Jesus is highlighting here isn't something sweet, he's pointing out, when there's disunity, you are testifying that I really didn't come. Because anybody who's walking by the Spirit walks in unity. So if we're not walking by the Spirit, then we're quenching the Spirit, or we never really knew him. That's what he is saying. So if unity proves that Jesus is real and the gospel is true, guess what the devil is going to consistently try to do in great ox fellowship, in our homes and in our lives.

28:19What do you think the devil is going to want to disrupt? What? He's going to want to disrupt it, right? Why? Because if he can get infighting opinions, jerks, everybody operating in the flesh and not by the Holy Spirit, we can meet here every Sunday, the devil has no problem with us coming here, did you know that? What bothers him is unity, because there is power in unity, there's oneness in unity, and it is a force that he cannot overcome. So what he will do is he'll begin to exploit wounds, he'll begin to really principalize our opinions about things, our ideas about how things should work, he'll show up in your house, and he'll make a minor issue, a major issue, he'll create offense, let down expectations. Oh, he's got a whole bag full of tricks, and we all know, and we can already begin to think about personally what we're talking about.

29:24We have names, places, and spots that we can point to where all of a sudden, we all agree with unity, but all of a sudden, what happens is there's a little bit of a gate that we have to walk through, because what we're going is, well, I wish we had unity in our home, but you know what, you don't know what my husband's done. I wish we could have a unity in our house, but you do not understand what this teenager's putting us through. I get it, I understand, but here's the thing. When we say things like that, what we're saying is, yeah, I know the Holy Spirit, yes, I know where all should be one. Maybe someday we can get there, but if everybody could just line up with how I think things should go, then we can have unity. Well, now you're just trying to talk like God. He's the one who gets to determine what unity is, our job is to submit and find ways to make sure it happens. But we're one. The devil wants to create disunity, okay? And here is the thing, there's two Greek words that describes the names of the devil.

30:24It's actually Diabolos, okay? Two Greek words put together. Look at this. Diabolos is Dia, right, which means apart. So already right there, we see that is very name means separated. Y'all with me, great oaks? The second part of his name means to throw. In other words, you have a ball in your hand, you're unified with it. You throw the ball, you're no longer connected, to cast away, to create separation. The name, the devil literally means the one who throws us apart, the one who scatters, the one who what divides. So if there's division in your home, there's division in a church, division in a ministry, he's been allowed to come in. Who let him do it? Who's on the hook? He comes in writing on your opinions.

31:26He comes through the gate of offense. He comes into these areas where we open the door. So he's not a boogie man that we have to worry about. He comes in when we let him do it. Then he's able to do his work because he's been allowed to come into our thoughts. He's been allowed to exploit the wounds on our hearts. He's been allowed to come in and we're not wise to it, and we feel justified in our pain and our opinions or frustrations. Whatever those things may be. And so we stand on what we think is right and righteous. And he will exploit those things. He'll go, you're 100% on the right. They're 100% on the wrong. You need to stand up for yourself and you need to draw a lot. That's great. And there's times where there you have to be tough or, you know, be clear up front of what about whatever's going on. I'm not saying that we just duck our heads and just go ahead and protect the unity.

32:26No, I mean, there's this we're counseling and pastoral insight and people praying with you. But here's the thing. The enemy wants to make you feel right and righteous about why you're disunified. And when we do that though, here's why this matters and this why is destructive. When we are so resolute on the idea that we're right and righteous about this issue, what happens is then there always has to be someone who's not right and unrighteous. I'm right and righteous. They're not right and they are unrighteous. What we've just done is we've taken the pattern of the world and we have created a villain and a good person. And often we see ourselves as the good person. All of a sudden you got this complex cocktail of disunity beginning to brew. Guys, this is the reason why there's so much infighting among Christians. And I don't have time to get into it, but there are people who have full time, quote unquote,

33:30ministries on YouTube that will highlight every time a pastor sneezes wrong and they'll say, see, he's a heretic, he's an apostate, he's a this, he's a that. And some people, that is literally their national inquirer. They will go there, oh, what next pastor fell? Oh, what next pastor did this? Oh, and we read these things and all of a sudden we feel so right and righteous. And we go, oh, I'm so glad this person is trumpeting truth and promoting truth and the right people. Yeah, yeah, what we're doing is we're playing into the devil's hand guys. Don't watch that crap. That is divisive. You let the Lord handle those people if they're apostate. You let the Holy Spirit convict those hearts. You let the Holy Spirit expose. Pray for them. Pray for them. I was talking to Sarah yesterday. We're sitting at the table having dinner. And we, I don't know how we got into the conversation, but we're talking about how much we love you guys, okay?

34:35That was the way the whole conversation. And just the beautiful culture that the Lord is developing here at Great Oaks over the last three years that we've been great Oaks. And we're just really celebrating you guys. We really were. Over dinner. And I said, honey, I can't believe that I get to go to this church. I'm so blessed to be here. I'm honored. I'm so thankful to God that I get to be here and do this with you. And I'm exceptionally honored that He would even choose me to put a microphone in my hand. That's a dangerous proposition, man. And yet He has. And it's a joy to be your pastor. I said, honey. I said, there's so many pastors sitting at dinner tables with their wife right now across the United States who were telling their spouse instead of, I can't wait till Sunday. They're saying, I literally do not know how I'm going to walk through the door of my church tomorrow. There are pastors in the pulpit 14 hours ago.

35:37They were saying, I'm so discouraged. I have so many mean people in my congregation. I'm so defeated. I'm so depressed. And I said, then you add in personal challenges. Maybe you got a teen pastor, has a teenager in that house that is just wreaking havoc and breaking that daddy's heart. And maybe the marriage is suffering because of it. Maybe there's financial challenges for that pastor. And they're under the burden of not only wanting to lead a congregation towards holiness and towards Christ, but their marriage feels like a sham. Their children are out of control. Maybe there's financial issues where people don't give it the church and they just expect it to be a free handout and they don't do acts too stuff. And I was just like, man, is it any wonder that some of these pastors, I'm not saying it's right, hit the detonate button and go rent a prostitute for an hour and just call it quits. I'm just simply saying, guys, this is not a kumbaya sermon in the sense that we go, oh yeah, I need to be more unified.

36:40No, you got to understand, we're about to see Jesus as the devil, the separator, the one who divides, comes to steal, kill, and destroy. You, your life, your marriage, this church, and your pastor. That's why we need to be in unity and we need to lift one another up. So when one is weak, another can be strong. We got to stick together and we got to drop our opinions. But your spouse needs that kind of commitment from you too. They need to know that you really are their ride or die. Come hell or high water. We need this with one another. And guess what? We got the power to do it because we got the Holy Spirit in us. Okay. The reason why our nation is so deeply divided, the reason why there is division between child and parent, the reason why there is a me versus you dynamic in our homes and even in our churches is because of one reason.

37:42We've let this person come in to our midst. And we're unaware and the gates are wide open and he comes and does whatever he wants to do. And he knows the buttons to push to create this unity. But can we get wise today and understand that we don't even know what unity means? It's okay. We just don't know what it means. We don't know what it means. We don't even know how to exercise this out. You know what it's going to require? Go to the one who prayed for it. Go to Jesus and say, I don't know because I always thought that unity was just getting my way and everybody acquiescing to my opinions. I thought unity was just sweeping everything under the rug acting like there's no problems. No, no, no, that's dumb. Jesus said, Father, I pray that you and I as you and I are one, that they would be one with us and that they would know your love for me in the same way that I love them. That there would this be the reciprocal unity, one in spirit. That means not just us, one in spirit. You've got to go to the one who prayed for it and say, I don't even know what this looks like.

38:43I wasn't raised in a house for unity. Are you kidding me? They didn't even know how to spell it when I was growing up. Let alone anything else. I need you to show me Holy Spirit to give me the power that the acts to church had. So I can figure out how to preserve this and maintain this and stop giving the enemy a foothold in my life. I want to walk in unity because the Bible just said that God blesses it with great blessings. Do you want to have great peace? Do you want to have great relationships? Do you want to have great joy? Do you want to have God's great blessings? We just saw unity is your key. Unity with God, unity with one another. Jesus says this. He said, listen. In light of what the enemy comes to do, he said every kingdom divided, which is the devil's name, his definition of his dumb name, divided against itself is laid to waste. Every marriage divided against itself will crumble and fall.

39:44Every church divided against itself will cease to exist. Any time there's division, it's a matter of time before it's done. Why? Because the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus said, no city or house divided against itself will stand. You all with me? Jesus then, I've referenced this first about 31 times, so here it is. Jesus said the thief comes to only steal, kill, and destroy. That's not hypothetical. That is real. I came that they may have life though. Jesus said, I came that you may have life. Have it in abundance to the full till it overflows every area of your life. I want life to overflow, Jesus said. We have to let them do it though. We have to allow this. So what is Jesus saying? We have to understand, guys, that the devil, the wolf,

40:46comes to kill, steal, and divide, and scatter the sheep. Jesus goes on to explain. He said, I have other sheep that are not of this fold, and I must bring them in also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be how many flocks. Say it all out loud. Come on. One. We're a little flock, y'all. We're a bunch of cute, precious, fluffy sheep, y'all. That's adorbs. One flock. Lots of shepherds. Is that what that says? How many shepherds? We're one flock. We follow one shepherd. We exist to say yes to Jesus in every area of our lives. And as we allow him to teach us how to do that, we will begin to see unity show up with God, and with those around us. Jesus is saying unity.

41:46This is a picture of unity, but Paul was writing to a church like ours. This is what he says about this. He says, I appeal. When you see him say I appeal, he's basically saying in a really fancy way, I'm begging you. What is Paul begging us to know? He says, I am begging you. I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another. Sarah, can you give me an amen, because I'm reading the Bible, and there's no amen here. I don't know what to tell you. That's what it says. That you agree with one another in what you say, and let there be no divisions among you, but that you would be perfectly united in mind and thought. Your opinions are awesome, but they're not gospel. They're not the Bible.

42:46My opinions, oh goodness, if anybody's got an opinion about something, it's me. I get it. I love my opinions. I agree with myself a lot. But they're opinions. So this morning, this idea of unity, it's like, okay, it sounds more complex than when I agreed on the front end that I wanted, and I agree with it. Okay, I want to share with you five facts about pursuing unity, and I'll encourage you to take great notes, but don't leave here agreeing with what I said. I'm asking you now to ask the Lord to reveal to you what you really need to know right now. Okay? Pursuing unity fact number one. In Christ, we have to understand our first step to discovering unity with God, and with one another, is we no longer belong to ourselves. We're not in charge. He's not our co-pilot. We literally were lucky to be in the trunk of the car.

43:49He is not our co-pilot. There's no co-pilot in with Jesus. He's our Lord and our Savior. And so what we have to understand is the Bible says that you've been purchased with, I thought, a high price, that blood of Jesus, the precious innocent blood of Jesus, is what clenched you and purchased your soul. You don't belong to you anymore. So every awesome opinion, every belief, everything that makes you you died. You're dead and alive in Christ. It's his Holy Spirit living in you, is now his life in you, so you don't belong to you anymore. Well, dear brothers and sisters, I'll support it with Scripture. I plead with you to then, in light of that, give your bodies to God, because of all that he's done for us, let them now become living holy sacrifices, the kind that God finds acceptable.

44:50This is truly the way to worship him. The way to truly worship the Lord is to realize you're not in charge of you anymore. And all that you are belongs to him. Our job is now to submit to this spirit, his Holy Spirit, so that we can may walk in oneness with the Lord and then oneness with one another. This is why there's disunity, is because when we get saved, we think we still get to do what we used to do. We still get to be ugly to people. We still get to talk nasty about people. We could still do all these things. You're not walking in the spirit, and I guarantee you for those who make it a practice in your life, you're not walking in unity with Jesus, and you know it. And this is why you don't feel as present, you can't hear his voice, and the Bible is boring. It's because you are not walking according to your new nature.

45:51Before unity can take place in a church, before unity can take place in a marriage or a home. The starting point is you don't belong to you anymore. We belong to Jesus, which means, guys, y'all okay? This means that our desires, our opinions, our plans, ambitions, even past wounds, all are submitted to God now. They're his problems, they're his dreams now, it's all his. Bear with me one second. I need to turn this fan on, because I'm preaching, and I'm earning my money today. All right, here we go. Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God? You don't belong to yourself. Look what it says. You don't belong to yourself anymore. God bought you with a high price, so you must honor God with your body.

46:53What you're like I do, I work out four times a week and I try to eat clean, na, na, start by honoring the Lord with this thing right here, this pie hole, right? Honor the Lord with your thinking. That's what he's talking about. Honor the Lord in your heart. This is a picture of total surrender to God, so that's where we got to start. I'm not my own anymore. I belong to Jesus, pursuing unity fact number two. We get to live by a new set of plans then. If we don't belong to us anymore, then that means there's a new template for living, which is not like the worlds. We get to live by a new set of plans for our lives. The world's plan is this, and we all know it too well, right? Look out for yourself. Stand up for yourself. Don't take anything from anybody. We had moms tell us this. God bless mama. We had dads tell us this.

47:54God bless dad. We have people in our lives who tell us you don't have to take that from anybody. Stand up for yourself. You need to put that person in their place. You need to take charge here. You got to... That's how the freaking world does it, guys. Where has that gotten us? You have 8 billion people standing up for themselves. You have 8 billion people saying, I'm going to put my foot down here. And it has nothing to do with the core biblical beliefs about the Trinity. It's always put your foot down about something. You just...right? We get to live by a new plan. The world's plans is built on selfishness, not selflessness. The problem, why there's so much division and disunity, is often because we want to be right. We want to advocate for ourselves. But here's the good news. You don't have to anymore.

48:55You don't have to be just, you know, weak and just... You know, what I'm saying is, is that nine things out of ten do not require you for you to have to... I'm going to stand from... I am a full grown woman. I'm a full grown man. He was a youth kid. He was like 12 or 13 years old. His name was Ori. And Ori was my very first youth ministry. I had 11 students. And one of them, Ori, who I love, wherever he's at, that dude wanted to cross Highway 16 to go to the gas station across the street. And I was new in youth ministry. And I'm like, that dude, these cars are flying, man. I don't want to be responsible for that. If you want to get hit by a car any other time other than youth group, that's fine. But I don't want to be responsible. I got to keep you alive, okay? And so I told him, I say, hey, Ori, you can't go across the street anymore, bro. You can't go to the gas station, man. You got to have your mom drop you off or whatever you got to do. I said, but stop crossing the highway. And he's like, I ain't doing that.

49:56And I said, excuse me. And I'm looking down at this little... He said, I ain't... He said, I'm going to do what I want to do. Sarah was there, she remembers this. I'm like, Ori, no, you can't. You're here at youth group. I'm in charge, bro. He's like, you can't tell me what to do. I'm basically a grown man. I'm 13. Really? He said, I'm basically a grown man. But you know what? How many of us take that same attitude into our adult years? And we go, you can't tell me what to do. I'm a grown woman. I'm a grown man. A grown man. No, you're still a child of God. I guess. Right? You see, the world's plans is to say, stand up, defy authority. Don't let no one tell you how to live, how to do anything cool. But as Christians, we're called to be selfless.

50:56You want to know who that sounds a lot like. Jesus. Jesus. If anybody had a right to say, I'm a grown man. It would have been Jesus. But he came to this earth in the form of his servant. He was me. He was mild. And then he died of sinners death, even though he had never committed a sin. The world's plans for life is described right here. You see, the world only offers craving for physical pleasure. A craving for everything that we see and pride in our achievements and our possessions. This is the world's plan. They are not from the Father, but from this world. Okay? Y'all okay? So to experience unity, God's children are expected to swap selfishness for selflessness. All of you, the Bible says, have unity of mind. Here we go. Sympathy. Brotherly love. A tender heart.

51:58And this last one is going to get all of us. A humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling. But on the contrary church, filled with the Holy Spirit, under the blood of Christ, on the contrary, bless. For to this you were called, this is God's will for your life is to actually find ways to be a blessing to people who don't deserve blessing. But if you do, you will obtain a blessing. You see God blesses unity. And when he sees a son and daughter stepping in, doing their part, I can't change anybody else. I can't fix anybody else, but I am responsible personally and I'm accountable to the Lord to the level I'm willing to pursue unity. To the level I'm able to do this. The byproduct may not be kumbaya, but at least I could stand before the Lord going Lord. I'm trying to walk by your spirit. I'm trying to walk in unity here.

52:59Show me what to do. God says, oh, I see it. I see you trying. I want to bless that. I'll bless that. I'll bless you. They may not get blessed, because they don't want unity, but you will be blessed, that you may obtain a blessing. So the new plans that we pick up by the Holy Spirit of Jesus is to foster unity, is to first what we have to do. Don't copy the behaviors of this world. So whatever the way the world does it, don't do that anymore. Don't copy the behaviors, but let God transform you into this new creation by changing the way that you think. Then, guess what you'll get? You will then discover God's will for your life, which is good. It's pleasing and it's perfect. But he can't bless and open up his will for your life in any area if you're not seeking unity by the power of the Holy Spirit within you.

53:59He knows, deep down, who has the North Star for unity? He will bless that, but he can't bless disunity, because that's the work of witchcraft and the devil, guys. That's what it is. Pursuing unity fact number three, when we receive grace from God, we now have the power to give it to others. The definition of grace literally means undeserved favor. All of us have been given undeserved favor by the blood of Jesus. Have we not? He's given us something we don't deserve. He gave us grace though we didn't deserve it. Undeserved favor. And so when we are the most unwilling, oh, this is happy all we're going to get up and leave with what I'm about to say. But I'm telling you, I got to say it the way the Lord gave it. When we are the most unwilling to forgive and give grace to somebody, is when we are actually the most forgetful of God's grace in our lives.

55:03Jesus has a lot to say about this, and I don't have time. This may be a part two. Please come back. I promise. It will be nicer than this one, maybe. But we got to hear it, right? You didn't come here for a fluffy message, a little marshmallow message. You came here for the word of God. We're going to let the Bible speak for itself. Here's the thing. When we remember what God has given us, and we'd just settle down and eat one little slice of humble pie, and remember how he found us and what he's doing for us right now, and how's the grace of sustaining us. You will begin to chill out a little bit, and you'll be a little bit more liberal with the grace that you give other people. People who do not give grace to other people do not know the grace of God. Because we draw off of his account of grace, and give it not our own willpower. This is why we need the Holy Spirit. So we're able to foster unity by extending grace.

56:03That means it's unmerited. It's not deserved to those around us, to those who are going to blow it. The Bible says in Ephesians 4, so what our job is is to always be what? Come on, say it out loud like you're proud of it. Come on, humble, humble, and take an invitation for it, Toria the last seven days. You don't get to answer this, your family does. Okay? How humble and gentle were you towards them? Well, I think I was pretty humble and gentle. Well, that's good, but you don't get to answer. Because the other people in your life, they're the ones who receive humility and gentleness. If we're not humble and we're not gentle towards those closest to us, guess what? The one who separates is working in partnership with you. Be patient with one another. Can we just make allowance for each other's faults?

57:03That's what the Bible says. Just make allowance for one another's faults. Because of your what? Love. Make every effort, every effort to keep yourselves what in the Spirit? It's almost like God really cares about this. Unite it in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander, as well as all these types of the Bible calls this stuff evil behavior. Instead, here's what Christians should be doing and get to do by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can be kind to one another. We can be tenderhearted. We can forgive one another. Just as God through Christ has forgiven you and me, amen? In other words, lighten up in the name of Jesus. Being the family of God, it doesn't feel like messy and it's weird sometimes.

58:03But lighten up. Life is what you make of it often. And as a Christian, we get to do this instead. We have an option now. Next fact, pursuing unity number four, Jesus is the perfect example to follow. Okay? So don't look it to me. Okay? Don't look to me as the example. Don't look to anybody else. Look to Jesus. Great oak seeks to glorify the Father. We lift up the name of Jesus by the submitted to the power of the Holy Spirit and because we are one, buy the Spirit through Christ by His precious blood, we now have the Holy Spirit power to walk in unity. Philippians puts it this way. Okay. Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Is there any comfort from His love? Is there any fellowship together in this Spirit? Are your hearts tender in compassion?

59:03Are your hearts tender in compassionate? That's a question you and the Holy Spirit need to answer. Are they really tender in compassionate? Then if they are, then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with one another, loving one another, working together with one mind and one purpose. Will you go with it? How does that even look when it's at, well, Philippians 2 says, well, for starters, don't be selfish. Quit trying to impress everybody. Be humble, thinking of everyone else around you is better than you. Don't look out only for your own interests, but actually take an interest in other people's lives too. Maybe what they're going through. You must have, the Bible says, must. This is an expectation for Christians. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was, in fact, God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.

1:00:03Instead, everyone say instead. We need to be instead. Here we go. Gave up his divine privileges. He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. And when he appeared in human form, Jesus, our Savior, humbled himself in obedience to God. And he died a criminal's death on a cross. Pursuing unity, fun fact number five. God's will is to pour out his blessings on those who pursue unity. That's his will. He wants to bless you. Did you know that? And he wants to bless you beautifully. But the truth is, is God cannot bless Great Oaks Fellowship. He can't bless your marriage. He cannot bless your family. He can't bless your job. Unless we allow him to empower us by his Holy Spirit to pursue unity with him and with one another. That's just the bottom line. Now we have a choice to make. You see, the world knows how to be divided.

1:01:04Doesn't it not? If anything, the world is great at. It knows how to be divided. Why? Because the prince of the power of the heir of the devil is at work. That's why. That is why. But we have a choice. We have his spirit within us. Behold, the Bible says. How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in what? It is unity. It is like the dude, the Bible says, of Mount Hermann coming down on the hills of Zion. For there, look. There, the Lord has commanded the blessing. Life forevermore. It says, God, commands a blessing on your life. He commands a blessing on great oak's fellowship. He commands a blessing on your marriage. He will command a blessing on your children and on your home. He will command a blessing upon you. And surely goodness and mercy will pursue you all the days of your life.

1:02:07If we dwell in unity, he wants to command a blessing on your life. So, guys, nine things out of the ten things that have got you wrapped around the axle creating disunity and whatever part of your life, let it go. Let it go. That one thing that is actually absolutely a line that's been crossed. Guess what? There's grace for you to be able to know how to navigate that too. Come to a pastor. Come to get a counselor. There's certain things that we have to navigate. But nine times out of ten, the things that you're mad at your spouse about or the things you're upset with your preacher about. I'm telling you, it's not that big of a deal. It isn't. It's not that big of a deal. Let it go. Why? Because the devil is coming in through that door and he's creating disunity. So sons and daughters of God, let us embrace this charge in Ephesians right here. This is where we're going to wrap up. So why, Paul writes, the prisoner for the Lord. He says, I appeal. Remember what we said about appeal? He's basically, it's a fancy way of saying, I am what?

1:03:09Begging you to live a life, guys. Worthy of the calling to which you have been called. That is to live a life that exhibits Godly character, moral courage, personal integrity, and mature behavior. A life that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation. With all humility, forsake self-righteousness and gentleness maintaining self-control with patience and bearing with one another in unselfish love. So make every effort, everyone say make every effort to keep the oneness of the spirit of the bond of peace. And each individual working together to make the whole successful.

1:04:10Maybe 11 o'clock can get that. Here's what I'll tell. No, I'm just kidding. To make the whole successful, that means we must be one. I love you in Jesus name. So I don't know if you know, but we launched a podcast called What Do You Want to Know? And so maybe as you're listening to this, you're like, man, but you don't, David, I have some issues. There's conflict. I don't know what to do about this. And I hear what you saying, but I don't know this podcast, Episode 9, which came out last Sunday. Go to YouTube, go to our website, whatever. But we opened this topic up about how to resolve conflict so you can walk in unity. Okay? And so download that, watch it, share it, listen to it, like, subscribe, smash that like button. Whatever it is that the cool kids say, okay? All right. So dear brothers and sisters, this is what I want to leave you with. Paul says, I close my letter with these last words. Be joyful.

1:05:10Grow to maturity. Encourage one another. Live in harmony and peace. And when you do, then the God of love and peace will be with you. So father and Jesus name, I thank you for this word. So come holy spirit. Do what only you can do in our lives. And so Lord, it's the devil wants to make this complicated. And Lord, help us just to submit and say, okay, show me the way, Lord. I don't belong to myself. Help me. Show me the way. Teach me that you may command a blessing upon my life, Lord. And there are those listening. And the reason why we can talk about this is not because we're making a choice to try harder to be better. It's because we have the Holy Spirit within us. This morning, there are those listening, maybe online or in this room. Your starting point is to first become unified with God.

1:06:12The Bible says that your sins separate you from being unified with God. God wants to forgive you and he wants to give grace to you and he wants to save you and cleanse you so that you can be unified with him in spirit. You need the Holy Spirit of God and the way that we get that is when we allow the Holy Spirit of God to cleanse us so that his holy presence can be placed within us. If you want to know Jesus and be made one with God today, pray to him in faith right now. Tell him, dear Jesus, I admit that I'm a sinner, but right now, with the faith that you've given me, I put it in you. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. Tell him like your eternity matters. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. I believe you rose from the dead on the third day. And I'm asking you to save me. Forgive me of my sins, I repent.

1:07:15Wash me clean. I want to be made one with you. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. I surrender my life to you. It's yours in Jesus' name.