June 14, 2026 | Unity Within the Community

This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may be all one just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one.

I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you have loved me.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Oh righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know you, and these know that you have sent me.

I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Pray with me, please.

We just pray, come, Holy Spirit, Lord, we need you.

We can do nothing without you, Lord.

So we need you now to speak clearly that we might hear you, Lord, and in hearing you, we might respond and follow you and grow more and more into your likeness.

For it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Invite you to please be seated.

On a personal note, it is good to see Cindy mess up sometimes.

We just keep it real here, you know.

We are very authentic.

So thank you for that, Cindy.

I really appreciate it.

I really do.

The writer to the Hebrews writes in Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

He writes this beginning at verse 24.

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Let us not give up meeting together, but let us encourage one another.

And all the more as you see the day approaching.

This is the writer to the Hebrews.

We don't know who wrote Hebrews.

Theologians kind of argue about that, Peter, Paul.

It makes no difference.

But did you hear what he's saying?

He said, let us not give up meeting together, but let us encourage one another.

Don't stop meeting together, is what he's saying.

In other words, the writer to the Hebrews is emphasizing that a life is meant to be lived together, not in isolation.

Don't we hear that a lot?

Well, well, no, Jesus, he's my homeboy, and it's just Jesus and me, and I don't need to be connected to a church.

But fellowship, what we hear the writer in the Hebrews saying that fellowship with other believers, that's essential for us.

That's essential for our spiritual growth, for our perseverance, for our mutual encouragement.

And all of this that he's writing about, all this is happening within the context of the church.

He's writing to believers, he's writing to followers, he's writing to those who have been born again in Christ, he's writing to the anointed ones.

And he's saying, don't give up meeting together.

He's writing to the ecclesia, the called-out people of God.

I want to remind you, as we did last week, I want to remind you just how we began here as a small group of people, how we began meeting at the delapsed house, how we began considering, Lord, how did you build the church?

What are the basic fundamental building blocks of the church, of the ecclesia?

And we talked last week that this is God's good idea, the ecclesia.

It's his good idea for the season that we live in now.

The season between the resurrection of Jesus and till he comes again.

That's why the writer of the Hebrews says this: let us not give up meeting together, but let us encourage one another.

And all the more as you see the day of the Lord approaching.

What is he talking about?

He's talking about when he comes again with all power and might.

Let us not give up meeting.

And we considered as we met at the Delapse House, we considered, okay, what are the basic fundamentals of the building?

Lord, how did you do this?

And we looked at Acts in chapter 2, beginning at verse 42, and we saw that leadership stood up, and the leadership proclaimed the word, and this has to happen if the church is going to grow strong.

And what's the word that was proclaimed?

We talked about that last week.

What's the word?

What was the message?

It was Jesus.

This is what they proclaim.

You read in the text, you read in the history of the church, they were proclaiming the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

That's the message.

And it was presented in such a way that people connected with the message.

They connected and said, you know what?

What he's saying, I need.

I need him.

This message that I'm hearing applies to me.

And they were cut to the heart, we read in Acts in chapter 2.

So that this message requires a response.

And as we read and beginning the very first, the purity of the church, as they heard the message, they were cut to the heart.

Brothers, what do we do?

Repent and be baptized, every one of you.

Begin the journey with Jesus.

And we considered that as we met as a small group of people at the delapsed house.

And coming out of that, then it leads to discipleship.

It leads to the walk of discipleship.

And you say, well, what is that?

What is discipleship?

Is that Bible study?

I said, well, it's a part of discipleship.

I mean, what is Bible study?

Bible study is when we kind of listen to someone who's more knowledgeable than us.

And what do we do when we hear this person?

We take copious notes, don't we?

We want to learn something.

Hopefully, we'll get what they're saying.

And often the attempt when we come into Bible study is to learn things that we don't know.

And to take notes and to process.

But that's not discipleship.

That's a part of discipleship.

Discipleship, as we read and begin in church, it's a process.

It means submitting to what Jesus did with his disciples.

Discipleship.

So you take the word of God and you allow God's word to bring truth into our lives.

Truth that's relevant now.

And I say this time and time again: it's the truth of God speaking into our life.

It's not the culture speaking into our life and revising the truth.

That's not discipleship.

It's the truth of the gospel, Jesus.

And we see the components of discipleship based on prayer.

Oh Lord, Lord, reveal to me as you open your word that you reveal to me Jesus.

So we spend time in his word.

We spend time, we read of his heart and his truth.

And we write down, we journal.

Lord, what are you revealing to me?

This is discipleship.

And all this happens within the context of the church.

This is one of the building blocks of the church.

And it leads to changed hearts.

That the values in our lives change.

And we see that.

We begin to invest in God's agenda.

And you know what we call that?

The basic building block of the church?

We call that stewardship.

Stewardship always follows discipleship.

And our response to all of this is praising God.

Our response to all of this is worship.

It's what we do when we gather together as the ecclesia.

It's worship.

It's where we meet with God.

It's where we encounter God.

And let me say this things happen when God shows up.

There's a difference.

You want to know the difference?

People go to different churches and they come, they visit, and they say, What's different?

God shows up.

That's what's different.

We meet with God and we worship Him.

You'll see, you'll see it.

Not a lot of y'all, but you'll see us holding our hands up.

For 15 years I've been holding my hands up.

It's not that I'm charismatiac.

But but I'm holding my hands up because, Lord, I want all that you have for me.

That's worship.

I want more of you and less of me.

Give me all that you have.

It's the oldest form of worship.

It's called the Orange Position.

It's just submitting to the Lord.

That's all it is.

So when we raise our hands to the Lord, it's like I just want more of you.

That's why I've always wondered why we're so like this.

I only have two more weeks.

Maybe.

Maybe.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jay.

There you go.

I can count on Dottie and Charlie.

Oh.

But we worship.

We worship in spirit and truth, John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

And the very meaning of worship, the building block of the church, the very meaning of it is intimate.

It's to draw close enough to kiss.

And the kiss is not just a peck on the cheek, it's an intimate kiss.

This is what worship is.

And we're led, we're led into worship by the worship team.

They're not up here performing, they're leading us into the throne room of God where we just all we can do is say, Lord, I need you.

And all of this, the basic building blocks of the church, brings growth.

And like I said earlier, you show me a place where God shows up, I'll be there.

And this is what the world's looking for.

Let us not stop meeting together.

We heard in the first reading today out of Joshua, Joshua 24.

Joshua is writing this letter, or he's speaking this, it's not a letter.

He's speaking this to the assembled group of followers, to the assembly of God.

He's speaking to the Israelites.

And this is his last farewell.

He's come to the end of his ministry.

And guess what he says?

As he's been leading them, guiding them by the power of the Holy Spirit, he says, choose this day whom you're gonna serve.

There it is.

We've been saying that every week.

There's no fence to sit on.

Choose this day whom you're gonna serve.

There's no gray area.

But as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord.

Don't you love the boldness of that?

I was thinking about that.

Just the way that Joshua stands and says, This is what we're gonna do.

We love the Lord and we're gonna serve the Lord.

It reminded me of Charlie Kirk.

Standing and proclaiming Jesus.

And it cost his life.

Choose this day whom you're gonna serve.

You see, what Joshua understood 2,500 years before Jesus was born, what he understood is that God's people, the ecclesia, the assembly of God are gonna always face competing loyalties.

Choose this day.

Because we're gonna serve somebody or we're gonna serve something.

Our allegiances, our our priorities, our our affections that that that that rival our wholehearted devotion to Jesus.

This is why, this is why we began the Ten Commandments, Jesus, or God says, have no other guys before me.

I'm a jealous guy.

Joshua understood this.

So, well, what are what are the loyalties?

What what are the loyalties that compete with Jesus?

Well, we should know that, shouldn't we?

We live it.

Loyalty to self.

I think that's the first and foremost one.

This is why Jesus says, if you want to follow me, you gotta deny self.

We got loyalties to self, loyalties to our possessions.

You want to know, you want to know what we value?

Just open up your American Express statement, and you'll see.

Now, don't hear what I'm not saying.

I'm not saying that we're not to live in this world, but what I'm saying is that you don't let those things get elevated above the one thing.

There you go, there's that prop.

You remember the prop?

We all got this prop.

Isn't that right, Bruce Altre?

Huh?

We all got the one thing.

Don't let your loyalties get above Jesus.

Family.

Family can can be something that competes against Jesus.

We can elevate family above Jesus.

That's why Jesus said, look, if you love your mother and your father, father, and brother more than you love me, you're not even worthy for the kingdom of God.

He's not saying that we're to hate our family.

He's saying don't let family become an idol.

That's all he's saying.

Popular opinion can become something that competes our loyalty with Jesus.

This is why Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say I am?

Because the world's got a lot of opinions.

Who do you say I am?

You cannot serve two masters.

The choice before Israel was not whether they would serve, but whom they would serve.

And this is the point that Joshua's making.

His call was for a wholehearted commitment to the Lord within the covenant community, the Ecclesia, the called out people of God, the assembly of God.

Don't stop meeting together.

Spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Encourage one another.

This is basically what Joshua was saying.

And this is what Jesus was saying in that in that prayer that Cindy read out of John in chapter 17, beginning at verse 20.

This is the night before he died.

This is like a farewell prayer for Jesus.

And he prays not only for those that are gathered in that room, but he prays for those who are going to believe through those that gathered in that room, through their witness, through their testimony.

And he prayed that they may all be one, Father, as you are in me and I am in you, that they may also be one in us.

Do you know what he's praying for?

For this called-out group of people?

He's praying for unity.

Unity.

Unity, which is not just merely agreement.

But unity is a shared life with God, with Jesus, a community bound together by divine love and common mission.

You cannot have community unless you have unity.

Unity is embedded in community, isn't it?

And this is what he's praying for.

One heart and one mind, unified in purpose, unified in love and devotion to Jesus, filled by the Holy Spirit.

This is the sign to the to the world.

That we are unified through the filling of the Holy Spirit.

So this is the church.

This is the ecclesia.

This is the that we're called to be unified in spirit, the unity of the spirit.

And let me just say that, relative to St.

Paul's Church, we have, we have lived that.

I was telling the vestry the other night, I had my last vestry meeting.

I said, do you realize that for 14 years that as we've gathered as a vestry, we have always, always, always, always been unified in spirit.

The cloud by day and the fire by night.

We pray and to a person, to a person, buy the property.

We pray to a person, build the building.

Everything.

We've been united, unified by the spirit.

So it's not just me and Jesus.

Jesus is my homeboy.

But it's us, it's we in Christ.

And what's the purpose of unity?

The purpose of unity is so that the world may believe that you sent me.

This is what we read and hear Jesus praying.

So that it's not just the end of itself, but it's the witness to the world of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can't have community without unity.

You say, Well, what does this unity look like?

What is this unity within the community, the ecclesia?

What does it look like?

It looks like loving one another.

Isn't that what Jesus said on that same night when he washed the feet of his disciples?

He said, Go and love one another as I've loved you.

Receive my love that you may love.

This is what unity looks like.

We love one another.

What else does it look like?

It looks like we forgive one another.

This is what we pray in the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father who art in heaven, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

This is what unity looks like.

Forgiveness.

What else does it look like?

It looks like bearing one another's burdens.

That's why Jesus said, are you burdened?

Are you heavy laden?

Are you troubled?

Come to me.

And we so we bear the burdens of one another.

What does unity look like?

We come together.

We're diversified.

We come together and we worship God despite whatever differences we might have.

We worship the one true God.

And all of this demonstrates the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

And this is what the world's longing to see: a community that is unified in Christ.

But there's one thing I want to add to this.

And this is our testimony.

This is our story here at St.

Paul's Church.

We have been unified from the beginning days at the Delapse House till today.

We have been unified.

But let me just share with you one word of warning.

Paul writes in well, actually Luke writes, but he's he's recording the words of Paul as he's as he's speaking to the church in Ephesus.

This is his farewell letter to the church in Ephesus.

This is his last words to the church and leadership in the church in Ephesus.

And he says this in Acts chapter 20, verse 28.

Acts 20:28

He says this, keep watch.

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock.

This is Paul talking to the church.

He knows he's not going to see them again.

He says, Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

Keep watch over each other.

Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

We aren't here because we want to be here.

This is our good joy.

We've been bought as believers in Christ.

Be shepherds.

We're either a shepherd or a sheep.

We're either leading someone or we're following someone.

And he's saying being be shepherds of the church, which Jesus bought with his own blood.

And then he says in verse 29, I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

Even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.

So be on your guard.

Be on your guard.

Do you hear this warning?

Paul understood that the greatest threat to unity within the body of Christ is going to come from false teaching.

It's going to come from selfish ambition.

It's going to come from leaders who draw attention to themselves rather than to Jesus.

And what he's saying to the church in Ephesus, what he's saying is that the wolves don't merely just attack from the outside.

But sometimes division arises within, within the church.

You say, well, how does that happen?

How does that happen?

Pride, elevating self, bitterness, gossip, arguing over doctrine, personal agendas.

All of this fractures the fellowship for which Jesus prayed for.

And what Paul is saying is that unity must be preserved.

Truth and love.

This is what we are called to protect.

The truth of the gospel in the church.

This is what Paul is saying.

Truth must be protected.

And that's all motivated by love.

Remember that, St.

Paul's Church.

We're here for ages to come.

Don't stop meeting together.

Spur one another on.

Encourage one another.

And love.

Hold up the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love one another as Christ has loved you.

You see, this is the answer.

This is the answer to the threat of wolves breaking in.

It's not one of fear, but it's one of faithfulness.

Faithfulness.

Again, listen to the writer of the Hebrews.

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and full of assurance of faith.

Let us hold to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Let us not give up meeting together, but let us encourage one another.

And all the more as you see the day of the Lord approaching.

That's my charge, at least for today.

I've got two more Sundays.

Pray for you daily.

We pray this prayer.

Lord, I pray protection around the flock.

Because let me tell you something, anywhere that God shows up, there's an adversary that doesn't want him to show up.

And he'll do anything to kill, steal, and destroy, to bring division.

So we pray.

We pray, and greater is he who is in us than he who is in this world.

Amen.

Father God, we do thank you and praise you.

We thank you, Lord, that we find unity within the very body of Christ, wound and bound by the Holy Spirit.

Lord, I pray that for my brothers and sisters here that we fortify this community by loving one another and forgiving one another and bearing the burdens of one another, Lord.

That Lord, that this would be a place that you show up and people know it.

And people that come that want to see you and know that you're real, they will experience you in a very real way.

Thank you, Lord.

We love you because you first loved us.

And we pray in the powerful name of Jesus.

Amen.