How Can We be a Family on Mission

If you would open your Bibles up to the book of Ephesians, chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

My name is Pastor Sammy.

If I if you don't know me and I'd love to meet you after the service, I'll be over there in the back, but glad that you're here today.

But uh we are uh wrapping up our series that we've been going through called The People on Mission.

Usually we walk through a book of the Bible.

We just finished the book of James about a month ago, and we'll be starting the book of Nehemiah next week.

Um, and so we are finishing this series of people on mission.

Uh God, as we've learned, has called this church on mission.

Amen.

Every single one of us has a purpose and a calling as a church, as followers of Jesus, to live out.

His mission is to share the gospel and to make disciples.

And so here in our text, Paul talks about what it means to be a family on mission, united together.

You know, some of the greatest stories ever told are not about one person accomplishing a mission alone.

Usually there's stories about unlikely heroes, unlikely people, misfits coming together for a common goal, a common task.

You know, we can think of some of the great stories or movies or books.

I think about uh The Lord of the Rings.

Anyone seen the Lord of the Rings?

Some of us in here, right?

Uh The Lord of the Rings, where um it's these uh group of people in this uh adventure fantasy that come together to destroy this ring, this symbol of evil, and some of us maybe who've seen it in the last moments when uh Frodo, the the main, one of the heroes of the story, is struggling to destroy it, who's tempted, who's exhausted.

There's a friend, Sam, who comes alongside him and picks him up, and they go and they destroy evil together.

Maybe if you've never seen Lord of the Rings, maybe you know Star Wars.

And Star Wars are this moment where the hero Luke, a skywalker, is going to destroy this Death Star, this machine that really destroys planets, and he's in this struggle as these ships are behind him trying to take him out, and his friend, unlikely friend, Han Solo, comes out of nowhere and takes out these ships that are after him, uh, giving him the opportunity to destroy this ship and destroy you.

Maybe if you're not into sci-fi or fantasy, maybe a sports movie.

Right?

Maybe like a remember the remembering the tight ends with Denzel Washington or any sports movie where it's a lot of these misfits and there's conflict and there's tension within the team.

Specifically in this movie was a sports team where there was racial tension and conflict, there was mistrust, but over time they came together for a common cause as brothers and worked together despite their differences.

Why do I share this?

See, what makes these stories interesting, and why I share this, is that sometimes the greatest threat to the mission wasn't always the enemies outside the group.

Sometimes the greatest threat was the division inside the group.

See that the reason they were able to accomplish this goal, yes, there was an enemy, but it was because they were working together despite their differences.

And what can happen as a church as God has given us this mission to share the gospel, to live for Him, that as a church, sometimes our differences and the division that we have can prevent us from accomplishing the mission of God.

And this is exactly what Paul is dealing with in our text in Ephesians 4.

Because guess what?

It did not take long for the early church for division to come up to prevent them from the mission.

Some of us, if we know in the book of Acts, we just walked through that before James.

In the book of Acts, the church was exploding, people were being saved, people were hearing the message of Jesus, they were receiving it and being baptized, and it says the church was growing day by day until there was an issue.

It was a racial issue.

There were certain widows of a different uh um uh class, different group of people who were not receiving help from the church.

They're being looked down upon, and so the apostles came together, they got what were the first deacons, these seven men, these servants, to take care of this problem because they knew if this problem wasn't taken care of, then they couldn't live out the mission.

So this is not something new.

This has been in the church where sometimes a division can prevent us from going forward to live out the calling God has for us.

And so the question that the text is gonna answer in Ephesians chapter 4 is this is how can we be a family on mission?

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

How can me and you be a family on mission that when we're saved, we become an into a new family as followers of Jesus.

And so here in Ephesians chapter 4, Paul says this, let's stand in this moment, as is custom here at our church here at Idawild in reverence for the reading of the Word of God, that as we stand, we are declaring that God's word is true and that it is good.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Amen?

And that when this book is open, God is speaking to us.

So come hungry and humble to receive it.

Let us hear this, the word of God.

Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 through 7.

Ephesians 4:1–7

I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But grace was given to each one of you, uh uh each one of us, according to the measure of Christ's gifts.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we ask for your help in this moment.

I got God asked for your help as I open your word and preach your truth, that you would uh uh fill me with your spirit, empower me, Lord God, and the same spirit that is filling me to communicate your truth, that same spirit is in every single one of us who are born again.

And I pray that same spirit that unites us would cause us to listen and open our hearts and our mind to receive your word and to obey your word, Lord God.

We pray for unity even in this moment now, even as we hear this word, that this message from you would bring us together.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

So here we're jumping in the middle of a book, Ephesians chapter 4, right really in the middle of it, just so we have some context of what is going on, what is Ephesians?

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians is a letter Paul is writing to the church of Ephesus.

So if you remember, last week we learned of the Great Commission.

Jesus with his apostles sending the twelve out to go into the world and make disciples.

And so in the book of Acts, that's exactly what they do.

They go around sharing Jesus, as they're sharing Jesus, they're establishing and planting these churches.

Paul is one of those who was doing that work, and so he is writing to the church of Ephesus.

And so here he writes this letter, and starting here in verse 1 of our text, he says, therefore.

Alright, we have to pause.

What is he saying prior?

Right?

When you've maybe heard this and said before many times by preachers, is when you see it therefore, you have to see what it's there for.

There's something prior that is going on.

And so really, chapters one through three, and chapters four through six have a completely different theme within the book.

Okay, chapters one through three, well, let me say it like this.

In the book of Ephesians, this letter, there are 41 imperatives.

Okay, what's an imperative?

An imperative is a command, it's a call to action to obey something.

Okay, 41 times there's this command.

And here in chapters 1 through 3, guess how many imperatives there are?

Does anyone know?

There is one imperative in the first three chapters.

In the first half of the book, there is only one command.

And I think the command is to remember.

Remember a truth.

And so the rest of these imperatives, the rest of these commands, the 40 of them are from three to the end of this book.

Why is this important?

Right?

Because before Paul jumps into this imperative of this is a way you need to live your life, these things that you need to obey, he lays a foundation of saying, This is who you are.

This is your identity.

This is so important, guys, because this is where we can so often miss the mark of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Where we make following Jesus the main thing about doing things and not being.

Right?

Where we make it about performance rather than our position.

Right?

That's what chapters 1 through 3 is about.

If you look there, it talks about being adopted, being saved, being called to the Lord, being a new creation, brought into a family.

And Paul's saying, based off that identity, that you are loved, this is how you live it out.

And this is important because we try to live it out and we struggle and we struggle and we wonder why, but it's because we're doing it from a wrong position, oftentimes from guilt or from shame or from our own strength.

And Paul's saying, Therefore, everything I've talked about, about your identity in Jesus, now there's a way you need to live.

We need to understand that.

Just as therefore, prisoner for the Lord, here in verse 1, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

We also saw in verse 4 this word calling here.

In verse 4, it says, There's one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call.

So here's the first point.

How can we be a family on mission?

Is this pursue your calling?

Pursue your calling.

What does that mean?

What does calling mean?

What does it mean to pursue your calling?

When it's talking here in verse 1, it says, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

What I want to do is I want us to look back at Ephesians chapter 2, because I don't think there's any better place we can go to in the Word of God just to show.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Again, what Paul's doing, the pre-work beforehand of the first three chapters, of seeing what our calling is.

Look at this.

Just the beauty of the Word of God.

Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

It says this, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins.

You and me before Christ were dead.

Look at verse 2, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience.

It's talking about the enemy there, among whom we all once in the passions of our flesh, meaning our old desires, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Verse 4.

But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive again together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved.

And raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ.

So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

So we see that identity piece.

We see what we are called to.

The first thing we're called to is our salvation.

That's what calling is.

That we were dead.

A perfect picture of this is Lazarus.

In the Gospels, Lazarus, this friend of Jesus, had died and was in the grave, buried, rotten.

Body is rotten, it's stinking, it's been days, and Jesus comes and calls Lazarus out.

And says, Lazarus, come forth.

And this is a picture of the gospel.

That Jesus, we were dead spiritually, and he calls us out.

That's what our calling is, is to pursue that, to understand the weight of salvation.

That we have been saved.

But not just saved, there's a calling to grow.

To grow in him, to obey him.

And we see this in the first verse.

Where it says, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling.

What does that mean?

This word walk here refers to everyday life.

I mean, think about it.

They don't have cars, they don't have Ubers, no lift, no buses.

They walked.

That's what they did.

They walked.

And so Paul he uses this word in uh Ephesians, this letter, eight times, but 33 times throughout all his letters.

This was a common phrase he used to talk about what it means to live your life.

Just as you walk around, it means walk here refers to living out the Christian life.

So he says, walk in a manner worthy of the calling.

What does worthy of the calling mean?

Here's a way to understand this.

It's like a scale.

Okay?

Think of that calling, which is the gospel of Jesus, and your life on the other side.

Do you live a life that matches that calling?

Meaning when people see your life, they see how you live, how you talk, how you act, how you treat other people around you, and they can see that you're living a life worthy.

There's a balance.

It's not that we earn that, that's not what I'm saying.

That's not what Paul is saying, that we have to earn that gospel or that calling.

But if we have been called out, we need to live worthy of it.

That's what our calling is.

And he's saying, pursue your calling.

Pursue it.

Brothers and sisters, you have a calling from the Lord.

Do you know that?

Do you feel the weight of that?

That the living God has called you to be saved, has called you to grow in Him, to live on mission.

Let that sink into your mind and your hearts because so many of us were looking for purpose.

We're looking for a calling, and it's right here in the Word of God.

He has called us.

We need to pursue it.

How can we be a family on mission first?

Pursue your calling now.

Verses 2 through 3 is protect the peace.

Protect the peace.

Look at verses 2 through 3.

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.

This Greek word here for maintain gives the idea.

Or when Peter was being kept or maintained in jail.

It's the idea of protecting something.

To look over, to maintain, to watch.

And it says what?

To be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

We need to maintain it.

You know, when I think of maintain or maintenance, one thing I think about is a car.

Right?

A car doesn't naturally take care of itself.

Right?

Maybe some of us thought that one day, and then when you know we didn't change the oil, and that car was gone.

Actually, the car that I have now is because a friend of mine, the car was like, Oh, I don't know what happened to it.

You can have it when we're coming back from South Asia, serving overseas, and we needed a car.

And I took it to my mechanic, and uh he's like, Yeah, the oil hasn't been changed.

Right?

It and it's yeah, well, I'll stop there.

I was gonna say, my friend has had so many car troubles since then.

Um but uh a car needs to be maintained, it needs to be checked, the the coolant, the oil, the tires, everything needs to be maintained.

Naturally, the car doesn't just stay perfect, doesn't maintain itself.

In the same way, peace within the church, with the family of God, needs to be protected, it needs to be fought for.

It's not natural.

We know this because within our hearts, in relationships, within the church or outside of the church, a lot of times the natural instinct isn't peace.

So it's something to be intentional with, to protect, to watch over.

So how can it be protected?

Paul gives us the answer there, verse 2 Ephesians 4.

It says this, with all humility and gentleness.

If we get this, it's so powerful.

This is the main, if you want to know the main marker for a church that is united as a church that is humble, a church that is filled with people who are humble.

Some uh maybe of your Bible translation uses the word lowliness.

It's to consider yourself as less, as low over others.

And that lowliness needs to lead to gentleness.

That you put the needs of others above your own.

Right, right.

Pride, right, if if humility is the quality that protects peace, it's pride that destroys it.

Right?

Pride doesn't walk, usually walk into a church saying, I'm proud.

Or it walks in saying, I know better.

Or they should have asked me, or I deserve more, or I don't need to apologize, or I'm just telling the truth.

Right, pride, it disguises itself within the heart.

But what does humility look like?

You know, a great example of this is um let's say with me and my wife.

This is a made up scenario.

This probably happened maybe before, because it's just life, and this scenario has happened to you before.

But let's say I had a long day at work.

Long day.

I'm tired, I'm exhausted.

And when I get home, I just want to rest.

I want to be appreciated.

You know, I want maybe it's food ready or the house to look a certain way, or I have these expectations.

And I get home, and we'll take a pause there.

Okay?

We'll take a pause there.

We'll come back to that.

And let's say Mariah, her day's been hard.

And she's had a rough day with the baby.

And dealing with all of all of that, and it's been hard for her, and she's tired, she's exhausted, she wants some rest, and she wants some appreciation.

Now let's go back to me opening that door.

And we both have that same sense.

Right?

What is humility in that situation?

What does that look like?

Because this is what I want us to see.

We can talk about humility, but we got to get practical.

What does that look like?

It looks like me when I'm walking into that house to put my preferences, what I think I deserve, to the side and come to serve my wife.

Of how can I give you rest?

How can I serve you?

How can I help you?

But guess what?

It's the same thing of Mariah at home as she as she sees me coming in from a busy day at work to also come in ready to say, how can I serve and care for my husband?

See what happens when both people come with that humility.

So imagine a church that rather than being offended by one another, rather than coming to get my needs served, come to serve one another.

This is humility.

This is seeing yourself as low, considering others' needs as more than yours.

What else does Paul say here in verse 2?

It says, with patience, bearing with one another in love.

Why is patience needed?

Patience is needed because unity can be hard.

It takes time.

Sometimes we can annoy each other with our differences and our perspectives, but it takes time to be patient and bearing one another with what?

With love.

This love here is the Greek love agape.

The unconditional love, the same love that God has for us.

That no matter what we do, he loves us and pursues us.

And Paul uses that same Greek word, bearing with one another in unconditional love.

So many of the problems within church and relational conflict can be resolved if there was just love for one another.

We would be able to overlook so many problems if there was genuine love.

When we think about love, we think about 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 4 through 7.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7

Think about this.

If everyone loved each other, it says this in 1 Corinthians 13: love is patient and kind.

Love does not envy or boast.

It is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way.

It is not irritable or resentful.

It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

God, we need help to love one another.

We need supernatural help from the Spirit of God.

Even now in this moment, I just pray as I preach that God would give us that love.

How is unity so related to missions?

Right?

We're talking about being a people on mission.

One of the greatest tools that God has given us to be a light into the world is our community, our love for one another.

Because we know it.

There's so many of us in here.

I don't need to convince you of that.

That there are people in our life who should have loved us who didn't.

The people that were closest to us, who did the opposite of us, that hurt us.

Where we see brokenness in our friends and families and our relationship, conflict, hate, toxicity in the culture and all that goes around us.

And then when people are ready to escape it, when people are ready to, because they've heard of a new family they can be a part of.

And they come in these doors, and what happens if they see the same thing that they've experienced all their life in a place like this?

We're called for the opposite.

That people come in here and they see something different.

They say, despite all these people having different backgrounds, different experiences, different stories, that they love one another.

There's something supernatural going on.

God is among them.

It's a tool.

When we love each other to show the world that we belong to Christ.

How can we protect the peace?

We show that humbleness, patience, loving one another.

We look to the example of Christ.

Look at Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

I just love this passage so much.

That really, if we just applied this, if we just listen to this and let this sink into our minds and our hearts.

Look at this, Philippians chapter 2, verse 1.

Philippians 2:1

Paul says this.

He says, So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, united, and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Oftentimes, in the center of conflict and division, it comes from Paul knows this, Jesus knows this.

That's why it's being communicated from selfish ambition and conceit.

Verse 4, let each of you look not only for your own interests, but also the interests of others.

Here's the question: How on earth do we do that?

It is so ingrained, not just because of our culture and the world, but in our human hearts to look out for ourselves.

But Paul gives us the answer.

Look at this.

Verse 5, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Church, this is yours if you're in Christ.

This mind is in your, it's in your mind.

Says this, verse 6, who though he was in the form of God, talking about Jesus, did not count a quality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

What's the Lord saying here?

He's saying, Be humble to one another, love one another, put others before you, and then he puts the ultimate example.

Jesus, the most exalted and lifted being God, emptied himself, who became human, put on the flesh for us, and hung on the cross and died.

Do you see what he's doing here?

Don't miss it.

He's saying, if Jesus could do that, God can do that.

Why can't you?

And he's saying, that mind which is in Christ is in you.

And look what Paul says, verse 9.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

So at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Here's the thing: if you have a problem with people and showing humility and kindness and gentleness, and you can't forgive, your problem is not with people, your problem is with the gospel.

That's what Paul is showing us here.

He's saying, if you aren't able to put the interests of others first, you're not remembering what Christ has done for you.

And the more you begin to let the gospel sink into your heart, that although I was undeserving and I was a sinner and I ran and I rejected God, and he had every right to punish me, he showed me grace.

And so now I can extend that to others.

I can extend that.

How can we be a family on mission?

First, pursue your calling, second, protect the peace.

We have to be intentional.

Third is point to the truth.

What do I mean by this?

Verses three through six.

And really, verses four through six, Paul doesn't really give an imperative or a verb.

He just reminds them of a truth.

He points them to the truth.

What do I mean by this?

Paul is pointing them to the truth of the church's spiritual unity.

Look at verse 3 through 5.

It says, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond, the peace, there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, the Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

It says we are called by the same Spirit.

One Spirit.

Second is this, there's one body.

Right?

The Bible refers to the church as one body.

The head of the body is Christ.

So what happens when the body begins to attack one another?

We hurt each other.

We harm ourselves.

We're one.

We're united.

It says one hope.

We all have the same hope.

And we will all stand before Christ one day for eternity, forgiven and redeemed.

We have a hope that we share as a family.

It says one Lord.

Speaking of Jesus Christ, we all have the same Lord.

We all submit our lives under Jesus Christ.

That the brother or sister that you slander, that you call out, that you cause division with, is the same brother and sister in whom Christ died for.

Who is their Lord as well as your own?

See, one faith.

See, our unity is not a made-up unity.

Our unity is in the faith of the gospel.

It's rooted in biblical truth.

This is one baptism.

Why bring this up?

Corinthians had a problem.

Paul talks about this in his letter to Corinthians.

It says this in chapter 1, verse 10.

Again, because we see this division is not something new.

He says, I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and there be no division among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment, for it has been reported to me by clois people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.

What I mean is each one of you says, I follow Paul.

I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ.

Is Christ divided?

Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

What Paul's saying is saying there's one Lord, there's one baptism.

That each of us were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Says there's one Father, one God over all.

Verse 6, who is over all and through all and in all.

That we have one Father as brothers and sisters.

To summarize this, our body refers to our unity and belonging.

We are members of the same family.

One spirit refers to our unity and presence.

The same Holy Spirit lives in every believer.

One hope refers to our unity and future.

We're all moving toward the same eternal promise.

One Lord refers to our unity and authority that we all submit to the same King Jesus Christ.

One faith refers to our unity and belief.

We hold on to the same gospel truth.

One baptism refers to our unity and identity.

We all have been marked as belonging to Christ.

One father refers to our unity in family.

We have all been adopted by the same God.

Last point is this.

How can we be a family on mission?

Is play your part.

Play your part.

Look at verse 7.

It says, by grace, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gifts.

What it's saying is, by grace, this thing that we're not deserving of, Christ gave us gifts, unique gifting, specific callings.

Just like a basketball team or a football team, there are specific roles that people play or in a play or a performance.

People have different positions, different roles to have.

It is the same for each one of us in the mission of God.

And we see Paul break this down in the rest of these verses in chapter 4.

Look down briefly at verse 11 and 12.

It says, and he gave apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

Verse 16, from who the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

See, we are one body with different functions that work together.

Right?

Paul talks about this in Corinthians.

Right?

The I can't say to the foot, I don't need you.

I mean, how good is the foot if we can't see where we're going?

We've all been given a role, a gift.

What is that?

See, when we fail to use our gifts to the church, we miss out.

This is important.

So many of us think about church, and okay, what is the church gonna do for me?

But guess what?

We miss out.

When you don't serve, when you don't use the gift that God has given you, as a body of believers, we miss.

Not only do you miss the opportunity to use that gift, we miss it to be to be blessed by it.

We're not called to be sideline Christians, but each one of us plays a role.

You know what's been my one of my favorite things in serving here this past year?

I saw this so much in the Hope Cafe we've been doing on Saturdays.

Is that when we're serving together and I'm just watching this in the fellowship hall, when someone says, hey, I've seen you around, what's your name?

Yeah, I see you on Sunday.

What remind me your name or where are you from?

Or I love it.

Because as we serve together, as we use our giftings, as we come alongside each other, we become a family.

Where it's not about ourselves, but all of us are coming humbly as servants, side by side, working and striving together.

And in that, our unity grows.

We have diversity in our gifts, right?

Unity does not mean uniformity.

Unity does not mean everyone within the church looks the same, talks the same, and has the same background.

There is unity in our diversity.

And he wants to use those things to display his gospel to the world.

So, church, he has given us a mission, a calling.

And you have a role in that.

You have a part in this.

And as the band to come up as we close.

Right?

The enemy, he is not excited about what happened yesterday.

We've been talking about this.

Right?

With the Hope Cafe of again feeding 33 people Saturday during lunchtime, and then after that, doing the back to school bash where this campus was packed with people coming to get school supplies, but ultimately to hear the gospel.

Of Jesus Christ?

Because here's the thing, I want to thank you guys so much for those of you who came.

So many of you came and served and volunteered for the Hope Cafe and the back to school bash and have been leaning in.

And sometimes you don't get to see everything.

Right?

Maybe you're sitting at a table, maybe you're like Gideon.

I think maybe you're doing cotton candy most of the day.

Or maybe Audrey, you were doing that.

Or you're Rico Marcus flipping burgers at the grill or sitting at a table, or you were in the modules and giving backpacks out.

You see, we all play different roles.

And what you didn't see is the gospel conversations happening.

That yesterday there are three people that made professions of faith of wanting to follow Jesus.

And none of that is possible if we don't work together.

And the one way the enemy is gonna want to stop that is dividing us.

Saying, okay, I see there's this church that is passionate about reaching people.

And maybe he's like, I can't get them off of that.

They are on it, they're running after people, they're going out for adopt the puck, they're playing praying on the streets, they're feeding those in need, they are just going all out.

You know, I can't stop that.

But you know what I can do?

I could cause some gossip, I can cause some bitterness, I can I can stir some pride and jealousy, and then eventually it slows us down.

But God has called us to be a new family on mission together.

And God wants to use us.

And I just pray right now, even as we close in this moment, let's pray, Lord God.

I pray supernaturally you would bound us together.

Lord Jesus, there may be someone in here, it's their first Sunday.

It may be someone's third Sunday, fifth, hundredth.

But I pray that your spirit would reveal to them the significance of the body of Christ.

That although we may have our differences, although we may not even know each other's stories or names, that in your name, under your blood and sacrifice, we are a new family knitted together.

God, bring us together.

God, I pray in advance when the conflict arises, because it will, that you would create servants of humility.

That when we want to get our way, when we want to say that word or hold that thought in our heart against someone, that we would think of the cross, that we would see your love, we would see your sacrifice, we would see your forgiveness, and we would be so overwhelmed and think, how can I hold this against somebody?

And we would let go, Lord Jesus.

Would we be a people on mission, a family working together?

We need your help.

It's hard.

And so we pray you have your way even now.