The Gospel Unifies

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Man, that's the best one ever.

Y'all have awakened this Sunday morning.

Well, happy Super Bowl Sunday.

Five of you.

That's good.

We know we're in God's country, the South.

College football reigns.

How many of you honestly don't know who's in the Super Bowl?

I knew there would be several.

I've never grown up in a place like this.

So everywhere I've been before here, the Super Bowl was a big deal.

But anyhow, go Eagles.

That's all I'm gonna say.

I do need to take a moment of personal privilege and wish a happy birthday.

She is not here.

They went on a quick ladies' weekend, but my daughter turned 18 this morning.

So, Callie, if you're watching, happy birthday.

Got up this morning and had my cry over that, and I'm okay now.

So, anyhow, um, but hope that today is a good day.

Man, I'm excited about y'all being here.

And uh if you got your Bible, go ahead and turn it to Mark chapter 3.

Mark 3 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 3.

Mark 3 · chapter mention

We're gonna be looking at starting in verse 20.

As I got thinking on this theme, I was trying to understand what really is unity?

And what do we think about the word unity?

When that comes to mind, where does your mind go?

What is something that's unified or as one?

Have we experienced real unity?

Some of the folks that are in Connect Group may have this question this evening: what really is unity?

Have you gone through a moment of real unity?

Um, one that continually sticks out to me that I wasn't expecting.

Um, along with the Wilsons and Ropers, we went to a Garth Brooks conf concert.

Uh, don't judge me, okay?

They were uh baptizing me into the South, I guess.

And um I didn't know a lot of the songs, but I watched as it progressed through and watched people who never in their whole life have met each other sing songs in unity that, of course, I only knew a few of, but watched them and watched the spirit of the people, and it was like, this is spiritual.

There's something about this, everybody being united over this, and it takes people to places, right?

It's like, well, I remember that because that was a song that happened in my wedding, or I remember this, and you know, that was over one of my first dances, or whatever it is, it brings people to a place and they just sung with their hearts out as I experienced this.

So, with that said, I read this this week, and I'm going to make sure that I qualify this with a pianist.

Ella's right here, so if I'm wrong, Ella, please uh let me know.

But this is what I read that 100 pianos all tune to the same fork, automatically tune to each other.

That sounds right.

Okay, she's shaking her head.

I don't want to lead you wrong, church.

They are of one accord being tuned not to each other, but to a different standard, to which each individual must bow together.

Well, I thought, wouldn't it be great if the church today came together in a united front doing something?

So I want to start the service.

I want to ask you to stand.

I'm gonna bring the worship team back together.

And I think if you sing this song, the words of it, that you might figure out there may be a lot of differences in this crowd.

Take a look around.

But I hope that as you sing these words, this might be the things that are not different whatsoever.

Let's let's sing as if we want to be unified.

Please sing with us.

No join with us.

Just lift your voices to the Lord this morning.

A desperation with all we know is doubt empty.

It's broken and all this dark, you help us see one.

We will be buried.

Thank you, church.

You can be seated.

I wanted to feel and experience that with the idea of unity.

Thank you for your singing.

Mark chapter three.

Let's pray together.

Father, we love you.

And we are thankful, God, that we can be so very different.

We can come from so much of a different background and be united on this bond of the gospel.

And I pray today that God, you would open our hearts to it.

Help us to see the truth that you want us to see from this passage and get everything else out of the way just for a few minutes.

We love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Mark chapter 3, verse 20 and 21.

Mark 3:20

The first point this morning is this, the gospel grievances.

It says this, then the multitude came together again so that they could not so much as eat bread.

But when his own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him, for they said he is out of his mind.

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said he has Beelzebub, and by the ruler of the demons he cast out demons.

Letteray, I want you to see this morning.

Is this a fight from his own?

His own people thought, as a man of reference, that Jesus was out of his mind.

Why would family and friends who knew Jesus think that Jesus was outside of his own mind?

Many knew him.

Think about this.

And many people in this area, this town, knew him for 30 years.

And they had seen what was going on with Jesus, and perhaps some of them thought, he's left this work of carpentry that was a good work, it was a good job, and all of a sudden he's entered into this itinerant preaching ministry.

And you know what people say to things like that, where's the money in that?

What is he thinking?

They probably said.

And then people who knew him would know that by this point the Pharisees and the buzz about them is growing, that they disliked him and were trying to disempower him.

And Jesus was not cowering at any of the act of the Pharisees, to which many other people might have.

And so they thought, he is crazy.

Was it that?

Or what about suddenly out of nowhere you've known somebody for maybe 30 years?

I'm just trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.

You've known him for 30 years, and out of nowhere, this spiritual power shows up like you've never seen or really heard of.

And all of a sudden, this Jesus, Jesus, boy Jesus, eight-year-old Jesus, ten-year-old, this Jesus that we saw and grow up.

Certainly, you've never not a teenager that you grew up with could do things like this man is doing.

Not to mention, they're like, well, let's figure out who's following.

Who's following this guy?

Who's believing it?

Well, it's a ragtag bunch of teenage fishermen.

Picture the scene.

Right?

In today's time, maybe what you'd find at a skate park.

These are the people going, you need to believe this.

And hit and they're like, he's out of his mind.

He's lost it.

Fishermen, tax collectors.

The last straw, verse 20, you see how spiritual the people are.

The multitude came together, and this is what it says, so much so that they could not even eat.

We can't even eat.

We cannot even eat.

And so they say, This Jesus, he's out of his mind.

And it brings about, if you ever read about it, the trilemma that C.S.

Lewis brings up.

Either he is Lord, liar, or lunatic.

Okay?

That's the three spaces this story of Jesus will go from now through eternity.

Either he's Lord, he's liar, or he's lunatic.

And Jesus, I want to submit to you today, is Lord.

The book, The Dreamgiver, Bruce Wilkinson says, on the path to your big dream, often there are bullies at the borderland of familiar.

It's a metaphorical book, and it says that the dreamgiver gave a dream to ordinary so that he could walk outside of the land of familiar.

And he's met before he can even get out of town with the borderland bullies, and you know who they are?

They're his family members and familiar friends in a land of familiar.

And they will try to convince anyone with a great big dream that it cannot be done.

On a human level, I believe this that it had to hurt Jesus.

When these people that he recognized, people that he knew, said he is outside of his mind.

We know this from Hebrews, he experienced physical, emotional, and spiritual pain because Hebrews says we have not a high priest who was who was not like us, but who could not be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was tempted as we are, yet without sin.

So Jesus on the human level felt like we feel.

And so it had to hurt, but I want to take you over to Matthew 10.

I want you to see something.

Because the heading in my Bible says, Christ brings division.

We go, we're talking about unity, Pastor.

Matthew chapter 10, verse 34 through 39.

Matthew 10:34–39

Let's reconcile this together.

It says, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.

We go, what?

I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I've come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be those of his own household.

We go, wait, Pastor, what?

Yeah.

He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

If you read that and you don't have this context and understand, you probably go, What does that mean?

The gospel on the ground is a unifier, and you're telling me Jesus said he came to bring division.

John Piper said this.

He's saying, I am worthy of greater affection, worthy of greater love, worthy of greater allegiance than any member of your family.

If all the family members respond to Jesus this way, then you have what we call peace.

And you know if your family has this difference in it and they don't, there's anger.

If there's anger because somebody in your family looks at you and Jesus is more important than family bonds and family affection, then guess what Jesus said?

Then the sword cuts right through the relationships.

Because if we're not bonded on this one thing centered on Jesus, Jesus says it'll cut right through it.

Jesus experiences this skepticism from his own.

Imagine.

Mark 6, 4.

Mark talks about further, and Jesus said, a prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown.

I want you to think about this and think about the people that you know.

Do you ever presume to know another so well that you say, if Jesus gets in that one, I won't be able to hear it.

You ever felt the guilt of that because you lived a certain way before you became an adult or became or you got your life right with Jesus?

Right?

I'm just gonna say for I'm 600 miles away from Delaware.

Okay?

I lived a life that I'm not that proud of as a teenager for a period of time.

But can you imagine people that grew up a certain way?

And there's people still today that they can't hear God's message in a voice or recognize God's presence in someone's ministry because this hometown, this where we grew up, this what we saw, there's no way possible.

Not Him, surely, and then it works the same way on us.

There's no way I can do that.

I can't commit to that.

Teenagers hear me.

You say, people have seen me, so if I go right now and start living for God in this way, if I start bringing my Bible to school, if I start standing up for my faith, there's gonna be people who say, I'm a fake.

Okay.

That's fine.

You gotta deal with things, but you gotta listen to what God has called you to do.

Don't let the borderland bully stop you from doing what you're supposed to do.

Do you remember Joseph and his brothers?

All his brothers thought, not Joseph.

Jealous of Joseph, threw Joseph in a pit.

Boy, they sure got to Joseph's table when he was in the palace.

Oh, thank God you did a work in Joseph.

We're thankful for it now.

What about David and Goliath?

Did anyone think that scene was gonna unfold with David?

Even his father when the king was looking for another son.

Well, there's there's a lad out in the pasture, I mean a little one.

Who would think David would kill Goliath?

Who would have thought Saul, who was on the road persecuting Christians, would later be called the greatest missionary that ever lived?

He was willing to cast them in the fire, and now he's willing to go to the fire on behalf of Christianity.

What a flip and things.

You know what it was?

It was this gospel we keep talking about.

I want you, church, to realize that God is in the business of building people and rebuilding people.

So would you be a builder of people?

Bring hope to people, encouraging words to people, and have hope that they can do it.

Don't be a skeptic.

Fight for people.

Well, he had that fight from his own letter B.

He has a fight from outsiders.

Look at verse 22.

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem, they made, they grouped together and called for a people to come and see about what Jesus was doing.

That's what the scribes were doing.

They were a council of people trying to figure this thing out that was, they were afraid it was usurping their authority.

So and the scribes come together, and this is what he said.

He has Beelzebub, and by the ruler of the demons, he casts out demons.

So they come down from Jerusalem, this delegation, they're assessing Jesus' ministry.

And this is when they got their think tank all together.

Here's their great assessment of healing and speaking with authority and great works and wonders.

He's got a demon.

Nobody in that think tank thought to say this is not it.

He's got a demon.

And when I look at this and look for Jesus' reaction here, to me, it is unfathomable that Jesus reacts the way that he does.

I mean, do you have any fighting words?

Somebody say something about you that it's a button?

Anybody like that?

You got a button?

Good, Ian.

Thank you.

Us two.

Okay, we got button.

Don't mess with me and Ian.

The rest of you are very godly.

I got called something on the phone when I was 14, and I rode my bike three miles and got into a melee because of one word.

Rearranged my nose, that word.

I wish I wouldn't have heard it.

Everyone knows this.

We're in church family.

Everyone knows you're allowed to fight with your own family, right?

Right?

Brothers, siblings, I mean, you can berate and you know everything to each other, but when someone outside the family attacks your family, it's on.

You're gonna attack my family, you better go ahead and put them up.

Put out your words, put up your dukes.

It's time.

An outsider said, What to Jesus?

I can't imagine there's a worse accusation.

Jesus is healed, Jesus has loved, Jesus is protected, Jesus has shepherd, he's spoken with authority, he stopped for the children.

Jesus is such A gentle figure.

Jesus is so loving.

He preached the truth.

And this person, this group says, He is full of Satan.

And the next words that happen from 22 to 23, like I want them to be different words.

You know, the way I feel it starts getting me, like my blood pressure starts boiling that they say he's full of Satan.

I want to see right here, table flipping Jesus.

This is what I like to see.

And the two words that come up, and it says, and so.

And so Jesus.

But I wanted to see, and then Jesus took his mighty fist, and in holy fashion, like the Red Sea, he split that man's lip.

But it just says, and so.

Don't miss the wondrous grace of a patient Savior.

He had to be hurting.

And it just says, and so.

And so, nothing, not even an exclamation point.

He calmly shares a parable.

I'll read the verse.

It says, so he called them to himself.

You guys come in.

Come in, come in, come in.

Come here.

Not getting it.

You're not getting it, not getting it.

And he said to them in a parable, How can Satan cast out Satan?

Some of you heard this, but it's too good not to share.

Miss Pat called the church, not this church, my previous church.

And uh Miss Pat had that, I don't know how to what else to call it, but she had this deep, groggy voice.

And uh the call got passed to me.

I heard Pastor John leave the building.

Okay, he left the building.

I heard Miss Jennifer, the secretary, say, Pastor John, Miss Pat's on line one.

I heard the door close.

About a minute later, Pastor Rick, Miss Pat's on line one.

Okay, I pick up the phone and I don't know why she did this to us, but she said, Father Rick.

Hey, Miss Pat, what's going on?

She said, Father Rick, you gotta get down here.

I said, What's going on?

Father Rick, I need you to come over here.

There's demons in there.

I said, Demons?

I don't want nothing to do with no demons.

I promise you to this day, I'm pretty new on staff as a pastor.

I start Googling because I know.

I know there were no training.

They didn't train you in seminary for this.

And I'm Googling, what do you do if there's demons?

She said, There's demons in there.

I need you to get down here and cast them out.

And I'm like, I said, Miss Pat, I will come down there where you're at.

But I'm if there's demons in there, I'm not going in there.

I promise, I swear.

She said, Okay, Pastor Rick, on your way.

Can you pick me up a 44-ounce Mountain Dew?

Father Rick, I'm gonna need a Mountain Dew.

I'm like, I guess we're staying for lunch.

I don't know what's going on.

So I get down there.

I'm just young.

I'm like three weeks in ministry.

I've Googled it.

I bring some oil.

And I'm like, hey, Miss Bastard, Father Rick, they're in there.

And you gotta get in there.

I'm like, I'm not going in there, Miss Bastard.

I said, we will pray right outside, I promise.

We will pray if anything's going on.

I said, I'm putting this oil on the door, we'll put it on you.

I prayed with her, whatever I pray, Lord, if it's, and I believe, listen, don't hit, don't hear me wrong.

Ephesians 6, for we wrestle not against principality, but against powers and rulers of darkness in this age.

Very well it could have been.

Okay?

But I didn't want no piece of it.

Okay.

And so I prayed with Miss Pat, and we were done.

But I thought about all that.

Father Rick.

I'll never forget it.

The assessment of these guys, and Jesus says so simply.

He says, Jesus had just cast out a demon from a man.

And in other words, he says this what business would Satan take in casting out a demon?

That's civil war.

How would it benefit Satan to receive a man, to take possession of a man, and then come and fight that man and unpossess him?

Why would Satan want to relieve a man full of demons when demons fight for Satan?

Well, okay.

Jesus might have said it nicely, but I want you to look at verse 28 and 29.

Jesus brings a proclamation.

I think it hurt the heart of Jesus to hear what he heard.

I think Jesus handled it with grace, but he says something that's about as hard to take as anything that there is said.

He says, Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven, the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter.

But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation because they said he has an unclean spirit.

Jesus calls that proclamation what it was.

He says, This is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and sin unto death.

And people want to debate this back and forth all throughout.

They may debate this after and tonight.

I believe what the Bible says.

You don't watch the miracles of Jesus and claim it's Satan.

That is blatant disbelief, blatant rejection of truth.

It is what it says it is.

Blatant continual disbelief.

Well, let's look at the second point: the gospel guidance.

Look at verse 22 through 24 again.

Scribes come, they called, said that he cast out demons.

Verse 23, so he called them to himself.

How can Satan cast out Satan?

If a kingdom is divided, verse 24.

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

Letter A is this Satan delights in division.

Satan is not working against Satan to divide.

On the contrary, he is working daily to divide the house.

Satan owns the birthright to divisiveness.

If you look at Isaiah chapter 14, listen to what it says.

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

The origin, the origin of divisiveness is Satan.

And Satan in the heavens saw himself as greater for whatever reason, and wanted himself exalted above God, and we see divisiveness exist.

And in Revelation, it shares a scripture of how this fight went down in heaven between, it's Revelation 12, 7 through 9.

A fight, a war happened in heaven, and Satan and his angels were cast out, the demons that exist.

And so we see this divisiveness.

Well, the word divisive, divide is Zadone.

It's interesting.

It means the swelling of the heart, the swelling of this heart to think.

It's that pride in the heart.

And then another one of the definitions share this, as the concrete used at Babel.

I thought that's interesting.

Genesis 11, 4 says, Let us build for ourselves a city and a tower which reaches the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves.

Where is God in that verse?

Let us build for us a city and a tower which reaches the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves.

Where's God in that verse?

If you're going to build your business church, where's God in that creed?

If you're going to build your home church, where is God in your motto?

If you're going to build your church, where is God?

For your future, where is God in your verse?

Where is God in your verse?

Satan delights in division.

How does division take place?

What happens in our divided heart?

Psalms 37, 4 says, Delight thyself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of their heart.

In other words, if you delight in the Lord, if you come to know the Lord and a delight in him, he will turn your desires to his desires and then fulfill your desires and fulfill you in doing so.

God's thought so much about this that in the first of the Ten Commands, first four of ten commands tell us about what needs to be first.

He says, No other gods before me, no craven images that you make gods before me.

Then don't take my name in vain, and then remember the Lord's day and keep it holy.

Remember, worship, and reflect on all that God has done.

If I polled all of you today and asked you, what is first in your life?

What would your answer be?

If I polled this crowd today, what would you say?

What is supposed to be first in your life?

God.

God.

It's not a trick question.

Matthew 6, 33.

Matthew 6.33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you.

You would say God.

I believe you would say God.

But real talk, our lives don't reflect what our voice says.

What are some other high priorities in your life?

You can shout them out.

Family?

Good.

What else?

What's high priorities in your life?

Work?

What else?

Ministry?

Good.

What else?

Education, as I would say?

Okay.

Hobbies.

But if we really take a real look at what happens, many will say, we say the right thing, we say God, but in reality, the first chair of our life is often career for many people.

It's building a career.

And people build and build and build in this career.

And what happens sometimes, secondly, hopefully, when we get done from our career, we get home, and hopefully there's a little bit of time of what may take second chair, which is family, our spouse, or our kids.

And then maybe third place, we all we fit in our hobbies because it's what we like and what is fun to do.

We make time for doing.

And so a lot of time that's what it really looks like.

But I want you to really think about the question: where does God really fall?

We say, one, did you have time with God on Saturday?

How did the 17 hours of your being awake look?

Matthew 6.33, Pastor, but seek ye first the kingdom of God.

Pastor, help me with this.

Divisiveness.

I scoured resources and articles, and I gotta tell you, it is so broad.

Nobody wants to even on, you know, the internet, they don't want to say specifics.

They're afraid to step on toes, even on the internet.

It was so broad.

What is getting in the way?

What is diverting us from the main thing?

What are we following instead of God?

So this is in no real order of things, but I want to share with you, practically speaking, what are we allowing to be first place or second place or third place that's mixing up the priorities of things?

And here's what God gave me, what I thought through money, cell phones.

I know that you spent time with this yesterday.

I know that I did.

Okay.

There's money and phones, politics, our looks, others looking at us, social media, celebrities, video games for my teenagers, watching sports, on Super Bowl Sunday, Pasta, really, playing sports, your children's sports, athletes in sports, sports cars, houses, land, accounts, hunting, fishing, biking, jogging, boating, collecting, shopping, vacationing, comfort.

Did I leave anything out?

What are we really making first place in our life?

Because if my heart is divided on what is first, then Matthew 6.33 in reverse would say, and all these other things are going to be a mess too.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

But if I've got one thing out of the right order, it's all a mess.

Where does division begin?

If Satan can get just your house, if he can just get your house and if he can get you focused on you.

If he can get just one, one man in one house focused on just him and his things, and not looking at God first and then family.

If he can just get that one man messed up, he can divide and bring division.

How many of you love you?

We got 14 honest.

By the way, God doesn't want you to hate you.

God expects you to love you.

He says, love your neighbor like you love yourself.

He just wants you to take third place.

For some people today, that's where the rub is.

How many of you?

How would it feel?

Imagine.

Because the world's not teaching this.

Imagine a sports interview.

You know, Bob, what I'm looking for today, when this season's over, is bronze.

What I'm looking for today, I'm not, I don't need gold, I don't need silver, I need third place.

We don't live in a world that teaches any of that.

Am I right?

Some today is gonna leave you divided.

You're gonna leave here because third place is not gonna work for you.

The reason that God is not first place is because it's hard to remove things that divide our time and that we have to prioritize differently.

And I want to tell you, real talk, church, we prioritize the things that we love the most.

God is not first because we really don't want him first.

Not really.

Jeremiah 2, 32 says, this is heart-wrenching verse, and it says, Can a virgin forget her ornaments or a bride her attire?

And it goes on to talk about how that Israel has forgotten God.

They have forgotten the bridegroom.

That picture of a virgin with her ornaments or her attire, Harrison says it's like a wedding ring.

The bridal attire or the sash or the girdle was proclaiming her status as a married woman.

Man, what would you feel like if you took notice, nothing was said, but you just took notice that all of a sudden your wife took off the wedding ring and she just wasn't wearing it.

She didn't say anything about it, but it just was gone.

And you slowly begin to watch as she seemed to look to you less and less.

And ultimately, over three or four weeks, she began to really just kind of ignore you.

Anything and everything become more important than you.

That verse said, Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.

What a heart-wrenching verse.

You see, we're divided when we are because we have a relationship misunderstanding.

And the only way that we can see that shift is to experience how good God really is.

And to really experience how good God really is, he has to be first.

We will taste and see that he's good when he's in first place.

We have to make him first.

You see, all of those other things, this is the great thing about God.

All of the good things, James says, every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights.

Everything that we experience in life that we even get to place in those places, our spouse, our children, our careers, our homes, the world around us is his blessing to us to point us to the one that created it all.

And Satan wants to take every bit of it and fracture it and divide it and put it in the wrong place, causing us a mess.

I really like this quote, A.

W.

Tozer said, as God is exalted to the right place in our lives, a thousand problems are solved at once.

Let me say it again.

As God is exalted to the right place in our lives, a thousand problems are solved at once.

Is there tension right now in family, in work?

Is there a struggle going on?

If God is at the right place, a thousand problems are solved all at once, church.

Letter B.

Standing requires unity.

Said how can Satan cast out Satan?

Verse 25, and if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.

No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

He says, If a kingdom, if a house is divided, it can't stand.

Your house will only last so long with divisiveness.

Right?

I was sharing with the serve team this morning.

If I've got five in my home, if one of them isn't right, the whole house doesn't feel right.

Okay?

We can get by, we can try, but I'm telling you, it just takes one.

The other four, we can be right in tune, but one sour one, and we're all kind of having a bad day.

We're all trying to figure out what we can do, how can we fix it, especially if it's mama, right?

Am I right?

It's emergency then.

If it's me, we can live with it for a while.

One of the things that we were talking to our Connect group last Sunday night, and one of the sweet testimonies, I didn't ask for this in question, but it started going around and round a circle, was the history of unity in this church body.

And I thought it'd be a good point during our message for you to be reminded of our church mission and vision.

You got a picture of that.

You can go to our website and find it.

Alright?

Okay.

The mission of CCW.

Love God first.

Love people, serve at home and abroad, and then the vision, sharing the good news with all generations.

That's the gospel on the ground.

And the reason for the ongoing unity of this church body is because the main things are in the main place.

Yes, we have a lot of different preferences, and we've got a lot of different flavors, and we're from different.

All of that only works if you're able to be united.

I've always been amazed at how the gospel has bonded me to people that are ridiculously not like me.

And they look at me the same way.

I get it, right?

I mean, there's been men in my life that I'm like, I am just not anything like him.

But we love each other so much.

How?

In the regular world, that doesn't work.

You don't go like we have nothing together.

We have nothing in common with, but we love each other, right?

It's the gospel bond.

And that picture of what it does.

Well, I found some verses that I wanted to share on unity.

We've got another slide that you will see about this.

It's be good to write down because what does the Bible say?

How do we stand in unity?

Or why is it important biblically?

Psalms 133, verse 1 says, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

Psalms 133:1

It's a beautiful picture.

John 17, 21, it says that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be one, that the world may believe that you sent me.

Unity, did you see the end of that?

Unity, when the when the world around.

Looks at us and they see us unified, they believe in something.

It says they believe that Jesus is in that person.

Romans 15:6, that you may be of one mind and one mouth.

Romans 15:6

Glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

First Corinthians 1 10 says, I plead with you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you will speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you.

No divisiveness.

Philippians, fulfill my joy, being like-minded and one accord.

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.

That last part is a hard part.

Let each esteem others better than themselves.

Then Ephesians there.

Eagerness to maintain the spirit of unity and the bond of peace.

It's all throughout Scripture.

The one that I'll take a moment just to for us to consider, John 17 is interesting.

John 17, Jesus, just before he was taken in the Garden of Gethsemane, he goes, and there's a chapter there where he's praying.

Jesus is praying for the disciples.

And he's praying for you.

And he's praying for me.

Say, Pastor, how he how what do you mean, Jesus?

He was praying for the Torreses, and he was praying for the Hogan's, and he was praying for the Ropers, and he was praying for you.

Because it says in that passage that you would bring all of my people here together, these disciples as one, that they would be of one mind, so this can continue.

And he says, and not only them, but them who will be reached by the gospel as well.

And he prayed that they would all be one.

A picture of unity.

You are a key component, church, to unity of this body.

CCW is going to be gospel on the ground.

We have to join together in arms.

If there is fractures and divisions, I have to speak this hard truth.

Matthew 18 tells us to go to one another.

If you have aught with each other, by the way, if somebody has offended you and it doesn't seem like they know it, but you know it.

Go to them.

This is hard.

But how do we make something that can have division to be unified?

Not a text, not an email.

And know that they're okay and it's gonna be okay.

It's hard.

But standing requires unity.

The third point this morning is this the gospel growth.

Look down at verse 31 through 33.

Then his brothers and his mother came, and standing outside, they sent him calling him, and a multitude was sitting around him, and they said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.

But he answered them, saying, Who is my brother?

Or who is my mother or my brothers?

This is interesting.

Letter A is this the question of relationship.

Jesus poses this question back to him, Who Who are my mother and my brothers?

Well, obviously, they knew where Jesus grew up.

These are people familiar with him.

These are your mother.

This is your mother, Mary, these are your brothers.

Jesus says, a weird question.

Who are my mother and my brothers?

I want you to know today, church, all of God's family is family.

What makes Christianity a family?

Church is not a man-made society.

It's not something that you can participate in or opt out of.

It's a family.

You can't do it based on your comfort.

It's not like the HOA or PTA.

You're not obligated in that.

You can volunteer and then unvolunteer, but when you become a part of the family of Christ, you're in.

And in the family of Christ, there's things that we are to do.

Are God's people really your family?

They were Jesus' family.

See, when we're the family of Christ, we will hold our own preferences and priorities.

Acts 232 says that we open our house, or they went from house to house, and they broke bread together.

And if you look through that chapter in Acts and you see all that goes on, we open our hearts and we open our doors.

We open our tables and we sit down together and we open our hearts to prayers, and we'll pull up another chair to the table, and we'll add another name to the prayer list, and we'll give our food and we'll give our furniture and we'll give a bed and we'll give our smiles and we'll give our clothes and we'll give our prayers and we'll share in grief and we'll share in struggle and we'll share in disappointments, and we will have less money, and we will have less free time, and we will have less, but we will have more.

Ephesians 2, 19 through 22, this picture of what the church family is, this question of relationship.

Ephesians 2, 19 through 22 says, Now therefore you are no longer strangers, but fellow citizens with saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles, prophets, and Jesus Himself, the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building fits together.

This church body is something much greater than some organization in the world.

This body is something that's alive and it's vital and it's vibrant and it's needed in society.

And when you check in with your heart, you're part of family.

You're a part of family.

Well, letter B, let's look at the qualities of the representatives.

We looked at what was needed in the relationship, but let's look at the qualities of the representatives.

Verse 34, he asked that weird question, right?

Who is my mother?

Or verse 33, who is my mother and my brothers?

And he looked around at the circle of those who sat about him, and he said, Here are my mother and my brothers.

Verse 35, here's the qualities.

For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother.

The crowd said, Look at your mother and your brothers, and Jesus' response was shocking to them.

And the implication that Jesus makes is that there is no physical or specific connection, no particular culture or social connection needed.

But what makes you one with Jesus was the connection to God the Father.

And he says, Whoever does the will of my father.

Jesus, who sat with tax collectors and fishermen and drinkers and all kinds of sinners, like we would be, that is who.

Because he says, Whosoever does the will of my father.

When I was in college, Bible college, it was like the will of God was presented in some magical, mystical way.

Like if you just keep praying, you can reach out for it.

God, what is your will?

And you were to pray for the girl because it had to be the one that was God's will.

And in fact, Heather took me up on Lookout Mountain.

She told me, God told me that you were God's will for my life.

That's a true story.

I couldn't believe it.

I thought, wow, God's getting one on you.

I'm thankful that he was right.

What is God's will?

Well, why don't we go to Scripture for what God's will is?

Because the Bible is pretty clear in a few passages about what is his will.

God's will according to the Bible.

And we're gonna wrap up.

God's will according to why do we need to know what his will is?

Because this is who is the family of Jesus, the one who does God's will.

So what even is God's will?

John 6.40 says, and this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life.

It is God's will that people would believe in Jesus and be saved.

Everyone that sees the Son and believes would have everlasting life.

That is God's will.

Romans 12, 2.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may discern the will of God.

He said, listen, church, got you off the hook.

You don't have to be like the rest of the world.

In fact, don't.

Do not conform.

You're not in this world to be of this world.

You're in this world, and you're not of this world.

If you've called on Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're different in this world.

He says, but it takes mind renewal, thinking on this, focusing on this, to not be like everything else.

Society will pull you in.

I mean, it sucks you in like a magnet.

I gotta be rich, I gotta have success, I gotta climb all of this stuff, and I'm gonna blow up because of it, and I gotta look this way and dress this way and act this way, and we talked all about it last week with legalism.

And Jesus says, No, you gotta retrain your mind.

That is not what's good for you.

You want to know the will of God?

You can't be like the world.

1 Thessalonians 4:3.

1 Thessalonians 4:3

For this, it says it, for this is God's will and your sanctification.

So God's will is for you to grow.

And then it says, abstain from sexual immorality.

This is a message all in itself, but in our churches, in our homes.

It's an epidemic in our country, sexual immorality.

We don't have to go far to find it.

He says, out of the things that he says is God's will, he makes sure to point out this one interesting sin.

Sexual immorality.

Got to abstain from it.

So if you're here today and you're in a struggle, it's not judgment here.

Lay that thing down.

It is God's will that you lay it down.

It is God's will that you not look.

It is God's will that you don't do that.

It is God's will for your marriage.

Teenager, it is God's will that you don't get in bondage.

Sexual immorality.

1 Thessalonians 5.18.

It's a hard one.

Give thanks in everything.

For this is the will of God.

I don't know about you, but I've asked God for the last five years, help me not to be a complainer.

Help me not to be negative.

I haven't got it stuck, but I have found out I'm shutting my mouth a lot more.

He said, give thanks.

Give thanks.

Give thanks in the good.

Give thanks in the hard.

I have found out when something goes bad on a car that I say, thank God that got fixed, because that won't be broke again for a while.

Thank you.

Thank you, God.

That tire should be good for a minute.

Thank you, God.

It's hard.

But it'll make you feel better just to be more thankful.

God wants you to have good.

And he's saying, if you will just be thankful, you'll be better than you are.

Because sit around someone negative for a while, right?

It's like, man, the whole world is dark.

He says this, 1 John 5 14.

Pray according to his will.

It's about prayer.

So he says, pray.

Pray according.

That's a tough one.

I pray a lot, I think, according to what I want.

But I have to temper that and say, God, help me.

Back in that Psalms 37.

If my heart is aligned with your desires, if you're first, he'll give me the desires of my heart.

So I try to be aligned with him there, and then I can pray and say, God, please.

Mercy, grace, God fall in this way.

And John 9.31 about prayers was says, if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, he will hear him.

You heard that?

He said, Worship him.

And then pray, and God will hear from you.

We don't have to look far to find his will.

It's there's things we don't know, but there's a lot we do.

Well, I want you to see this picture of Wyatt in closing.

My buddy here.

One of my favorite pictures.

I have been gifted with about 20 pictures of my kids and teens going door to door, taking gospel tracks and church information.

I have a picture of, it's such a sweet, there's so much to it, but there's a picture of Wyatt sitting on a teenager's shoulders, both carrying tracks headed to a tour.

I love it.

Because I'm investing in a teenager who's investing in my son, who are both investing in someone's house that they don't know with the gospel.

And when I think about these pictures, it makes me go to a place.

And really it's our story of how God brought us to Alabama.

But for eight to ten years, we went on missions trips, and we would take 10 students, my kids, my family, and we would go door to door.

Hundreds of homes in a day.

And I got thinking because you have a lot of time to think while you're going door to door, and you're watching all of this.

All you have is time to think.

You're walking, walking, walking is hot.

And I got everything's a challenge for me.

If I go to the store, I gotta beat my last time, which was 14 minutes.

The public's aback.

So I'm thinking as I'm walking, I wonder how many streets I can actually do.

How many streets could I do in a day?

I think I think I could do 30 streets.

Maybe a little more, but 30 on a hot summer day, I could get 30 streets all by myself.

And I get thinking about this because we did so many.

But I've got 10 to 17 teenagers with me, and I got 30 streets.

And I'm like, after 10 years, I think we hit about 35,000 homes.

And if you ask any of them students, if you ask even my kids who were young going through it, what was the most unifying time in our whole youth ministry?

I mean, we went to great camps.

We had awesome activities.

We would have these little off nights at our home and just bring everybody in.

The greatest unifier of all of it was when we took the gospel on the ground.

Bonds happened to kids that had no business in school.

The school would look at them and say, You and you are not friends.

You are nothing alike.

You like computers and you like sports.

I mean, nothing.

For fun, you do math, and for fun you look up stats on baseball.

Like, and all of a sudden, the breakfast club came together, and we had these kids that were nothing alike who became the greatest of friends.

And they'd come together and they started having prayer meetings at our church when adults weren't having it.

Teens were coming and having prayer circles on Fridays.

And they made me take them on a church van to go door to door in our own town.

We were off mission trip, but now we were home.

And Joe was there, and Joe knocked on the house, and one of his friends got saved because 17, 17 students showed up at the house.

Charles, you need Jesus.

And when he got saved, everybody celebrated.

And it brought more friendships, and it brought the tightest bonds.

Church, that is what we are.

That is what we are.

We are here to be the gospel on the ground.

We are on mission right here.

God's put us in our circle, and those people around you are the ones to bond with.

And we're going to your workplace and we're going to people unified in the front that we help people come to know Jesus.

That's the whole thing.

That's your whole family's mission.

You and your wife, that's your mission.

It's not some other thing that society has painted.

That's some part that you get to fall in, and you know, God bless us.

We get paychecks.

But it's for the mission.

But it takes unity.

We're excited you joined us for today's message.

Our heart is to connect with others in our community to grow with one another and build a bigger kingdom.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCW Connect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.