Too Good To Be True | The Power of We | Pastor Brodie Kalamen

Good morning, church.

Welcome you to church this morning.

What a great Sunday.

Great weather.

I know the clouds started to come in, but I'm sure if we pray enough, the sun will come out again.

But at least it's not raining.

I'm so excited to be here.

If you're here with us for the first time, we want to welcome you.

Pastor Brody's going to be sharing an awesome message this morning on our Too Good to Be True series.

So be ready for that.

And just before we start, if you have kids, we have a great kids program downstairs.

You can follow the signs and the red shirts.

For the rest of us, I'm going to invite you to stand as the band is ready to sing and we're going to enter a time of worship.

And I'm just going to pray before we start, and we're going to get right into it.

So, Father God, we just thank you so much for your love.

We thank you so much for this morning.

We thank you so much for this community, God, and God, that you would just speak to each and every one of us, God, this morning, that we would just draw closer to you this morning as we lift our eyes to you, God.

We lift up maybe maybe this week's been heavy.

God, that things have maybe not gone the perfect way this week, but but we just lift up every uh doubt, we lift up every worry to you, God.

We just we just want to cast our eyes on you and we want to make you great in our in our life this morning.

And God, would you raise our faith this morning as as we sing, God, that you would just enter this place, and God, you would just bring us peace, God, that you would just lift up our eyes to you this morning in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Come let us bow at his feet, he has done great things.

See what our savior has done, see how his love overcomes.

He has done great things, he has done great things.

Oh him of heaven, you conquered the grave, you free and recapped, and break every chain, oh God.

You have done great things.

We death, awake and a lie.

Oh Jesus, I say, your life lifted high, oh God.

You have done great things You be faithful through every storm.

You be faithful forevermore, you have done great things, and I know you will do it again for your promises, yes, and depend.

You will do great things.

God, you do great Oh heel, ahead, you conquer the red, you freak, break every chick, oh God, you have done great things with us in your fruit, oh wake and delight, oh Jesus, I said you're the name lifted high, oh God, you have done great Hallelujah, God, above it all, Hallelujah, God, unshakable, hallelujah.

You have done great things, God, above it all, hallelujah, God, and shaken up, hallelujah.

You have done great things, hallelujah, Hallelujah, God, above it all, hallelujah, God, and shake above, hallelujah.

Have done great of heaven, you conquer the wave, you free every cap and break every chain, oh God.

You have done everything with that you're free, oh wake and lie, oh Jesus, I said, you'll be lifting high, you have done great things, oh yeah, oh yeah, you conquered your day, you freed, we can break everything, oh God, you have done great things with dance in your fear, oh I can't lie, oh chief, I said, you'll take a living by all God, you have done great.

We're excited to be here this morning.

Fred the whale his kingdom, sing it out, Jesus, Jesus, our redemption, our salvation, we sing, Jesus line of hell, friend for whatever we will see, we will dance till the earth that rolls the hills, sing his praise till we see the other side below to the light when the night is at its darkness.

Just hold on for the dawn will soon arise.

Can you feel the winds of change?

There's a new day on the light, and the atmosphere is bright as the new world comes to light.

We will sing, we will dance to the earth that goes ahead.

See his grace to the sea the other side Can you feel the winter shit?

Let the blue day on the rise, and the atmosphere is great, as the new world comes to light, we will stay, we will dance, and be the dead of the hair, take it praise to the sea feeling.

I've got a feeling the darkness won't last, very long.

I've got a feeling the darkness won't last, very long, thank you, God.

I've got a feeling the darkness won't last, very long, no no.

I've got a feeling the darkness won't last, very long, I gotta feel it.

I've got a feeling the darkness won't last, very long sleep in a world away.

There's a new day on the rise, and the end of me shake, as the graveyards bring to light, let us sleep in a world away.

There's a new day on the rise, and the end of me shake, as the graveyards bring to light, we will sick, we will dance to the earth was the head, sick it is bright till we see the upside singing out Jesus, our redemption, our salvation.

You see his blessing at our church, Jesus.

Lift it in by these notes all for your glory that I might stand with more reasons to sing than to fear.

You pulled me from the clay, set me on a rock, called me by your name, made my heart whole again.

Here I stand high and surrender.

I need you now.

Hold my heart now and forever.

My soul cries out once I was broken, but you loved my whole hearthroom.

Sin has no hold on me because your grace holds me now and backwards.

Holds the ground where the grave is all my shame remains left for dead in your way.

You crush those at your gates, you left no stone unturned, you stepped out of that way.

Shouldered me all the way.

Now and forever my soul cries out here I stand here.

Now and forever my soul cries out once I was broke, but you loved my whole heart.

Sin has no hold on me, Cause your grace holds me now.

Cause we are at them, huge and foreg where my chains are now.

Death has no hold on me.

Cause your grace holds that round, and your grace holds me now.

I'm calling this wall.

Oh, I'm not you for blessing.

Jesus, you do anything.

More than anything that you can do.

I just love you.

I'm sorry.

When I've just gone through the motions, I'm sorry.

Take me back to where we started.

I open my heart to you.

I'm sorry.

When I've come with my agenda, I'm sorry.

I forgot that you're enough.

Take me back to where we started.

I open up my heart to leave.

I'm caught up in your presence.

I just wanna sit here at your feet.

I'm caught up in this holy men, never wanna leave.

Oh I'm not here for less things.

You don't owe me anything more than anything that you can do.

I just want you.

I just want you nothing else nothing else nothing else will do.

I just want you nothing else nothing else nothing else will do I just like to be able to do it.

We lay our crowns down in your prison sky We lay our crowns down We lay our crowns down suppresses suppresses the changes everything's gone letter It's freedom right now Let him Nothing else Nothing else Nothing else we'll do We just want you Nothing else Let's own it Nothing else Nothing else we'll do We just want you You know David says in the Psalms as the deer pants for water so my soul longs for you And maybe you came in here this morning and you were feeling a little bit off or maybe your week's gone a little crazy and maybe you didn't even know what it was but there's something in your soul that literally says I'm longing for Jesus even if you don't know it maybe it's like you're just feeling prickly and you can't shake it off but there's something that happens when you come into the presence of Jesus that things become aligned because just as a deer pants for water there's something in your soul that's actually longing for this moment right here.

Your soul is longing for the presence of Jesus.

And I just want to encourage you this morning, if you're in that boat, maybe you've been having a lot going on, that you just take this moment to say, God, my soul is longing for you.

I'm gonna accept it, I'm not gonna refuse it, I'm not gonna push it away.

I'm just gonna let my soul respond to its maker.

My soul, everything in me, my mind, my will, my emotions, would you come into alignment with the presence of Jesus?

Because when we get in his presence, it changes things.

It changes our emotions, it changes our mind, it changes our feelings.

That we believe God can do in one moment what nothing else can do, that God can show up in one moment right here and bring everything into order in your life, amen.

So we're just gonna let the badly.

And I just want you to take one moment to just say, God, would you come?

Come and touch my mind, come and touch my soul, come and touch my will, come and touch everything inside of me that's not aligned with you.

Because our soul longs for you, amen.

Nothing else, nothing else do I just want you, nothing else, nothing else, nothing else do we just want you Nothing else, nothing else, nothing else will do.

You know, we're here this morning and we're singing about how nothing else will do.

And for some of us, maybe we've experimented and we've looked around and we've actually found that everything else comes up empty and void, that there's no relationship that's gonna satisfy us, there's no job, there's no substance.

We've actually found here that there's nothing else but Jesus that satisfies like he does.

And I was thinking this morning as we're singing this, there's so much power in what we're singing that when we met Jesus, our chains were gone, that he holds us, that his grace found us, that he covers us.

But we've had a prayer wall going on for the last month, and I looked at it this morning, and there were so many prayer requests of people in our own families that don't know that there's nothing else to Jesus that will satisfy, that need their family to know this love, that need their kids to know this love, that need their friends to know this love.

And I'm just gonna read a few of them to you just to give you a picture of where we're at, okay?

So we have one that says for my dad to be saved and become a man of God.

One that says for my daughters to return to the Lord, one that says for my son and husband to give their life to Jesus.

Please pray for my dad to encounter God's love and grace.

For my 16-year-old son who is not living for God and his friend who is saying with us.

And these are just a few.

And I think when we're singing about how there's nothing else that compares to God, that there's a responsibility in us as a church to pray that these people would also come to know that there's nothing else that compares to God, for these fathers to come to know that there's nothing else but Jesus for these kids, for these brothers, for these friends.

So I just want you to lift up your voice for a second and let's pray for the families in this church.

Let's pray for the kids in this church.

Let's pray for the fathers that they would come to know the love and goodness and grace of Jesus.

Amen.

God, we thank you that you are a savior.

We thank you that salvation is found in you.

God, we thank you that your grace covers a multitude of sins, that you're so good.

God, we thank you that when we encounter you, our lives are changed.

When we encounter your goodness, all else fails to compare to you.

So, God, we're asking right now, we're asking for fathers, we're asking for spouses, we're asking for kids.

God, that they would come to know the loving goodness of a savior, of you, Jesus.

God, we're asking even now for testimonies to start to come in, of how you've captured people, of how you've shown them your abundant grace and mercy, that they would know, God, that our soul can only be satisfied in you.

There's a longing that's only found in you.

And we pray, God, for the families in our church that they would come to know that more than ever before, that it wouldn't be a concept or an idea.

God, we're asking that the person of Jesus would become so real to every single person and everyone on these prayer requests.

God, we just say we believe you, we trust you, we thank you that you are the ultimate savior.

And we look to you for every one of these requests.

In Jesus' name, everybody said, Amen.

Give the Lord a hand this morning.

It's been good to worship.

You can take a seat, but I want you to say hi to three people before you do and welcome them to church, all right?

Before you take it, let's give the Lord another round of applause this morning.

Celebrate him.

That's right.

We're uh following up to continue on uh the Two Good to Be True series.

Uh we start at the beginning of this year, and if you're just joining us, we're part of uh our our curriculum or our series is really based on knowing God.

We believe it's important for each person to have an individual personal relationship with God that is not the God of your parents or your grandparents, etc.

Culture, whatever it may be, whatever the trend may be, even if the trend is Christianity, you need to know God for Himself, even for yourself.

And everyone here is on their own specific journey, and some of you may be starting at that place where you're just like, tell me, teach me, tell me what is God like?

What's he like?

And if that's the case for you today, you're in the right place with the right people.

Turn to your neighbor and say, You're in the right place with the right people today.

That's right.

Okay?

In the right place with the right people at the right time.

That's right.

And uh even for myself, I came to a place where I knew God.

Uh I know God, but then there you move from that place where you realize you know the salvation that you've received from Christ, but you're still carrying with you all the baggage that you're that uh still trailing behind.

And we just want you to learn that God wants you to be free.

He wants you to be free from any of those burdens, any of that baggage that you're carrying forward so that you can live your life on purpose.

And on purpose, and living today on purpose, making a difference.

You are a difference maker.

You're called to make a difference in the space where you're at.

So this is a spiritual journey that we're on.

And KCC is really inclusive of everyone in that space who's actually moving their faith forward.

And if it's from knowing God to finding that freedom to discovering your purpose to the place where you're finding that fulfillment and actually finding that sweet spot where you're making a difference, it makes a big difference.

So today we're talking about knowing God, and we're gonna focus on the fact that God wants you to participate with him in life, moving together in his blessing.

God has blessed you to actually go out and be a blessing to others, and uh, that's the heart of the Father.

He put us in this place, he put us on this earth so we can actually go ahead and actually be a blessing to others.

So, how we do that.

So let's just pray this morning.

Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you that your word has power, and it has power to change and adjust and transform hearts.

Father, we just say today that hard hearts will be softened, caliced hearts will be softened, and Father, that we'll just be open to actually being transformed today in this place, at this time, in Jesus' name.

And everyone who agrees says, Amen, amen.

That's right.

So I'm preaching this morning from Psalms 133.

Psalms 133 starts with one particular word.

Behold.

That means like, pay attention, take take notice of this right now.

Behold how good and how pleasant it is when brothers, when people dwell together in unity.

You know that you can dwell together, but be outside of unity.

You can be together, but not in unity.

And the the fact is you can be together in a marriage, you can be together in a family, you can be together in a partnership in a business, but not be in unity.

But it's in unity is where there's a blessing.

The prayer of the Father was this.

Jesus prayed this prayer to his father before he left.

It was his last prayer for us, and he prayed this prayer and he repeated himself seven times, saying, Lord, would you Father, make them one?

Not make them two, make them three, make them one.

One singular focus, one singular mind, one singular pursuit, one singular dream and desire.

Make them one.

This is the heart of the father.

He's saying, You need to be one with me, you need to be one with each other.

There's a oneness that has a beauty attached to it and a blessing attached to it.

So it continues.

It's like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the surge of his garment.

In other words, there's an anointing that follows this uh this unity when brothers and sisters and people dwell together in this unity.

The anointing is attracted to unity, the presence of God is attracted to the fact where people are together.

I love being in a place when when people are together.

I like going to a hockey game, a sports game, when I know the team is like all skating in unison.

They're they're working together as a team, a basketball team.

I love watching the unity in the in the activity.

He says, for this is what'll happen if you're functioning in unity as a do it on a permanence, a Jew to descend upon the Mount of Zion, for there the Lord commanded blessing even life forevermore.

There is a commanded blessing on any people who will unite and dwell together in unity.

Unity matters to God, and unity is a big deal.

Turn to your neighbor and tell them unity is a big deal.

Come on.

Unity is a big deal.

It's no wonder the enemy wants to divide us.

It's no wonder the enemy wants to separate us and put a put a block, a wedge in between relationships, marriages, amen.

Businesses.

It's it's it's it's a it's a reason why the enemy wants to separate people through offense and unforgiveness.

There's a reason for this.

Because there's a command and blessing when people dwell together in unity.

I'm not talking about standing together.

You can be together.

I'm talking about linked arm in arm.

Together, united, a force that's connected together.

I believe the church has a lot to learn in this factor.

Because Joshua 24, 15 says this, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

There's a a we it's a power of the we.

It's it's not living in an I moment.

It's living in an hour moment.

A we moment.

Whereas where unity speaks of we.

It doesn't speak of I and mine and me.

It speaks of we.

So when it ceases to be about me.

And I, it becomes about we, there's a commanded blessing on your home.

When it ceases to be about me and I, and becomes about we and ours, there's a commanded blessing in our marriages.

When I start thinking about what is important, not just for me, but for my wife, my family, my children, and I bring them into my circle.

I'm saying, I'm not going to make a decision what's in my best interest.

I'm going to say what is in our best interest.

Where can we come together and agree?

When we care about people, God will bless us.

He will transfer a blessing when we move the focus off of me and place it on we.

It's a very simple principle.

But I find that these simple principles, I was talking to my wife earlier this week.

I never, when I read the scripture, I didn't see, I don't ever see Jesus walking through wherever he was walking, teaching about deep and complex things.

In fact, the things he talked about were very simple, but very complex in how they actually roll out.

Love your neighbor.

It's a very simple idea.

Forgive when someone's offended you.

Forgive them 70 times seven.

Go ahead, do it.

It's hard.

How many of you have had to forgive before and not wanted to forgive?

It's like a knife in your chest, and you're like, oh, I don't want to, but you gotta pull that thing out.

It's a it's uh the spirit of unity is uh a heartbeat that's the heartbeat of heaven.

It's the heartbeat of heaven.

Let us create man in our image.

The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

It's the mystery of a Trinity in heaven.

It's it's it's the mystery, people don't even understand it.

How two become one.

There's this mystery even in marriage.

When the church has unity, it becomes more about we than me and mine.

Uh then we'll see a blessing in the church.

I look at culture today, and I don't want to say it because I don't want to speak it over culture, but it's just the reality.

We've become the most self-absorbed, self-reflecting society of all time.

Literally, we buy technology, people are buying, spending thousands of dollars on technology just so that their selfie looks better.

Their phone, their filter, their image, their Instagram.

They actually have whole profiles that are hundreds of pictures of themselves.

And I dare say, if I was to go through some of your phones today, you'd have some pictures that are like, oh, that's me, oh, that's me again, oh that's me, oh that's me.

The front-facing camera, what was that even for?

Me.

I.

I'm gonna have that depth of field, and there's gonna be like blurred out background, I'm gonna look epic in this photo that's my tag or my profile or whatever social media platform I'm on.

It's this idea in culture today that it's gotta be about me.

It's gotta be about my identity and projecting my brand onto the world, my life.

And we forget that unity is not about me.

One person cannot be in unity.

Where two or three are united and gathered together, that's where the Lord comes.

It's about unity.

I'm preaching today about the power of we.

Moses, from early on in the scripture.

Moses, he's the leader of this massive group of uh immigrants immigrating through through the desert.

And God says to him, Moses, I'm gonna take the spirit that I put on one man, I'm gonna take it off of you, I'm gonna divide it among 70 others.

Because it's not about the one man show.

I'm gonna put it on 70 different elders so that they can rule with you.

You can rule together.

It's not about one person, it's not about me, it's about you need me and I need you.

I'm so grateful that Michael's up here playing keys and not me.

You should be grateful too.

Like it's just like that we have ministries and gifts and talents that are alive in the church, and it's about the benefit of the we is where there's power.

Together, we're a force, and together, the Bible says, together we're a force that hell can't can't come against.

When the church stands together, the gates of hell will not be able to prevail.

Together.

Matthew 6, verse 9 says this pray this way.

Matthew 6:9

When the disciples asked Jesus, how do you pray?

And Jesus said this, he said, Pray our Father.

How many of our prayers are my, oh Lord, about me, me, me?

Instead of going to the Father and saying, Our Father, our Father who is in heaven, it becomes less about my needs and about our needs together.

Our Father.

Begin praying that prayer.

That's a powerful prayer when you start praying our.

In fact, when you pray for your wife and you pray for your husband for your friends, when you pray for others' children, and when you pray for other churches, when you pray for the blessings of others, that's where you find healing.

In fact, James 5 says this pray for others, one another, that you yourself may be healed.

When's the last time you said, okay, I need a spirit, I need a financial blessing?

Make it real.

I want to I need a financial blessing, and the Lord will say this pray for financial blessing for those around you.

Pray for it.

Pray blessing on others that that blessing will return to you.

Pray for others first.

How many of you need a healing?

Pray for another person's healing.

How many of you need an opportunity?

Pray for opportunities for another.

Pray for others that your healing can occur.

This is a powerful prayer when we start praying, our Father, praying for others first.

Peter and John, when they went to the temple, they went together at the temple.

They went together to pray.

And when they went together to pray, they actually prayed.

They prayed for the man who was crippled, who had been sitting there for a long time.

They prayed together for him.

There's positive change when you're working together.

The strategy of the enemy hasn't changed.

It's to literally divide and conquer.

And we have to realize this and come back to this all the time because I feel like we slip into this mode where we become fixated on our own ideas, our own preference, our own way of doing things, our own, our own dreams, our own uh our own wants or desires.

And we look at it and we go, I want this and I want it this way, and if it's not done this way, I'm not gonna get involved.

Instead of saying, it's not about me, it's about us together.

Really, uh Jesus said, make them one, make them one, make them one.

And it's this idea that it's not about me, it's about us.

Are you are you hearing what I'm saying?

Like, if we really were to take it personal, even in a church service, you can walk in these doors and you could come down, come into this place, and you can say, you know what, until they sing my song that I like in my range, preach my message from my speaker.

Thank you, Brody, Pastor Brody, and they speak and they keep to my agenda and my timeline, and they don't go past 1230, because that wouldn't be good, and they keep to my schedule, teaching my kids my way.

That's it versus setting the approach of coming in and saying, it's not about me.

My job is to come into a room and set an atmosphere for we.

And I'm saying, I'm coming into a room and I'm gonna start preparing myself because I might not need a blessing right now, but there may be someone on my road that's had the worst week that they've ever had.

And I'm gonna sit up there and I'm gonna set the atmosphere for a blessing so that they can receive it because next week you might need it.

You might need to hear it.

It's this power of we, where we come into a room and we we set, we encourage and we support one another and we bless each other, and we're a part of that common unity.

I know that there are people in here today who need a need that commanded blessing in their life.

If it's in a place of your marriage, if it's in your personal home, we already heard it and we prayed for it today.

If it's your family members who don't need know Christ, probably, or potentially, you're in a place where your home is divided right now, and you need the commanded blessing of the Lord in your home.

And you're like, I need it, God.

I need this, I need help.

And that's where you calm in and you lay your life down and you say, It's not about my personal preference.

I'm gonna lay this down and say, Lord, it's all about you and what you have for me today.

And I'm not gonna come in with my own agenda and my own loyalty because unity trumps loyalty.

It trumps it.

We have my own loyalty to my way and my seat.

And you, I know some of you are loyal to your chair.

It's like someone comes in, someone's sitting in your section, and you're like, I don't know, I just can't see something's wrong here.

You're like, but you're coming in and you're united in the fact of like, I'm just here to worship Jesus.

I'm here to receive the blessing.

Together, there's a blessing.

The Bible says, Together we magnify the Lord.

Together.

In fact, when you come to church, the Bible says we're supposed to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

So if someone on your row and this word hits them and they they clap their hand, your whole row should clap their hand along with them.

And you should come into a place of agreement because unity matters, and you're supposed to rejoice with those who rejoice.

And if someone is like, thank you, Jesus, you should you step up, thank you, Jesus.

Like, I don't even know what I'm I'm just standing with them.

There's unity, there's power, there's blessing and unity.

I don't even know why I'm so excited, but I'm excited because you're excited.

Amen.

That's right.

Someone else is lifted and encouraged, you support them.

If someone else is in challenge, you're you're challenging, you're going through the battle with them.

You have each other's back.

That's unity.

That's like where you go, I'll go.

I'm committed.

I'm I'm I'm committed to to you as an individual.

Your response matters, your participation matters.

God actually says, you can't participate by yourself.

You need others around you to participate.

And God says, I want you to be in unity.

It's not one or more, God will be there.

It's when two or more, three preferably.

It's like it's very often it's not very often where God gives you an option, like two or three.

But the scripture says where two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm there.

Because the power of unity is so important.

Yes, it matters.

That's why we say amen.

Amen.

We're saying I agree.

That means I'm in agreement.

Amen.

So be it.

Yes.

You're saying yes to God.

So when you hear the word and someone says, Amen, amen.

Amen.

Yeah, like I have no problem with a vocal church, a church that says it's in agreement together.

The scripture actually says, how can two or more walk together unless they're in agreement?

We walk together, we move together, moving together.

Amen.

Amen.

I was on a phone call this week with uh Stockwell Day, and uh he was just informing uh some of the church leaders regarding uh some of the effects of some legislation that's potentially going through uh government in the next little while.

Um prime minister is trying to push through.

And uh he said, he he just reminded me really clearly, he said, there's no other force in Canada, there's no other union, there's no other special interest group, there's no other uh, you know, lobby group that's as powerful as the church.

When the church comes together, the church has a voice.

The question is the challenge is this, the church has been silent because we haven't been in unity.

And so we need to gather and rally our voice together and speak up.

If the church was to stand together, we could have an impact on the way Canada actually functions from day to day.

From every place, from the elections to the legislation, all the way through.

The Bible says where the righteous rule, the city is blessed.

And so the righteous, though, has to rule.

And they have to rule with unity, it has to rule with strength that way.

And I I appreciate his reminder that way, because the church has power, the church has a voice.

There's a principle though, and staticians have said have been able to look at church culture as well as culture in the world, and it's a 2080 principle where 20% of a community does the majority of the work.

They're the ones who engage, they're the ones who participate.

The other 80% are the ones who spectate.

And when they look at the church, the 20% are the ones that raise their hands, sing, do a little church hop.

They're the ones who engage and celebrate the word, they're the ones who give, they're the ones who are who are uh you know come early and help establish the presence of the place.

But the 20% are there, but the 80% are the others that spectate.

And I've never seen that as part of KCC.

Honestly, I grew up in this church.

I believe this church has been an active participating church, and I love it.

I would just love someone to come to our church and see it on its head, and instead seeing 80% of the church engaged, vocal, participating in one voice, and the other 20% are people from the world coming in, going, What?

Where have I been?

Look at this church.

They're supporting, encouraging, helping each other, they're moving their faith and their lives forward.

Imagine if I could be a part of this community.

That's the heartbeat of heaven.

The church united, a force against the gates of hell.

Cannot be stopped.

And I think about that, and I and I know as soon as I say that, um, people go right away into the space.

Am I part of the 80 or am I part of the 20?

Am I I wonder how he thinks about me when he looks across the crowd of people?

Does he see me?

He's the 80 or the 20.

And and I just recall from scripture when Jesus was sitting at the last supper and he talked to his disciples, and he said, Why don't you disciples, you know you're gonna betray me?

And it was interesting that they all, they all, they all said to him, Lord, is it I?

I think what happens is we come to church and we think, good message, Pastor Brody, for this guy beside me, or the guy down at the end of the row, or the person I saw in the lobby today, good thing they're at church.

They could really use this message.

And I'm saying to you today, Lord, is it I?

All of us need to look at this.

Am I united?

Am I participating?

Am I engaging?

Am I a part of this serve?

Serve place because there's a blessing.

The first church, Acts 2, they gathered together in the upper room, and the scripture says, it's the scripture says they they were all in one accord together.

That's even before the Holy Spirit came.

Now that we have the Holy Spirit, a common spirit between us all, shouldn't we even be more united?

Scripture says later that they all got filled with the Holy Spirit at the same time.

They began to speak in other tongues, and miracles happened, and they went outside, and the Bible says Peter looked at them and said, Peter began to preach, and there were 3,000 people who came to know Christ, and another eight, five thousand came to know Christ.

And and we all think, oh, Peter did this great thing, but if we look at the scripture, Acts 2.14, it says this Peter standing with the other eleven lifted up his voice and addressed them.

There was one spokesperson, but there were 11 other men standing and women standing beside him, declaring he wasn't alone.

There's no one-man show in the church.

The only one we care about is Jesus, and the rest of us all just champion the cause.

Amen.

We just champion that message of Jesus is Jesus' first.

So that's our message.

That's our heart.

The house can't be divided.

A house divided against itself can't stand.

And so we need those two, we need those three joining together.

As I close, uh John chapter 5 says, speaks of this story of a man who was sitting by a pool, and the pool is the pool of Bethesda, and this pool was really unique.

John 5 · chapter mention

The Bible says that every year an angel would come down and stir the waters.

And the first person who was able to get into that pool would be healed.

So around this pool were all kinds of infirm people, people dealing with infirmities, weaknesses.

And Jesus comes by and the man is upset.

He says, You know, every time the water moves, I'm always the last to get in.

There's no one here to help me.

And when I look at this scripture, I actually think about the importance of the first person to respond.

There was a blessing for the first responder.

Got in the pool, you got well.

And I think there's a value for us.

We're Canadian, eh?

We're Canadian.

And sometimes we wait for someone else to make the first move.

Let's just wait for someone else to speak up.

Let's wait for someone else to raise their hand.

Let's wait for someone else to give.

Let's wait for someone else to champion the cause.

And this reminder to me today is that we need to be the first responder.

That when I come into a room and I come into worship, I should be the first one saying, hands raised, singing out loud, the first one shaking someone's hand, the first one giving the hug, the first one who's who's speaking words of encouragement and when realizing someone needs prayer, I need to be the first one that's going to give the prayer.

And if I see a need, I'm the first one to address it.

I'm the first responder.

And how many of you today are in that place where you need to elevate your place?

And you've been coming, you've been struggling in your own home because there's division in your home.

Maybe there's division in your partnerships.

Division in even in your your mental place, your mental space.

And you don't know what's right or wrong.

And you need unity.

And I'm just saying that you need to say, Lord, is it I?

Like, I'm not too proud.

The Bible says you resist the proud.

He resists the proud, but he gives grace to those who are humble.

He gives grace to the humble.

And we'll never go anywhere on our own.

Where it's all about me and mine.

And all about I.

But Father, would you change your hearts?

Lord to accept our Father.

Accept together.

Accept the we will worship the Lord together.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

We will bless the Lord.

We will love the Lord.

I'm just going to ask you today, if this is you today, you're saying, I want the unity.

I want the blessing on my home.

Would you just raise your hand and say, I want the blessing of the Lord on my family?

I want it on my business.

I want it on my life.

I want it in our church.

I want it in our city.

We want unity today.

Unity today.

Father, is it I reach into my heart, expose my heart, expose my life.

If there's something in me that needs to adjust, needs to change, Father, I lay my life down and I say, come and purify me, clean me from anything that would be opposed to you.

You give grace to the humble, grace to the contrite of heart.

You give grace to us.

And so today, Father, we pray this prayer.

Lord, unite us, make us one, make us one, make us one, make us one today.

One with you, one with each other.

In the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus.

I'm going to ask the band to sing together.

If this is in your heart, would you just raise up your voice and sing along with us as we just sing the song to the Lord today, together?

Amen.

Worship.

We have your voice and just tell how thankful you are for this morning.

We love God right now.

Amen.

Amen.

You guys can be seated.

Thank you so much, Pastor Brody, for that amazing message.

How many of you were just inspired this morning by that?

I know that that's such a great reminder, just the power of we that we're better, we're better together.

As we transition, we're just gonna get ready for our giving.

And uh you can grab that envelope that's in in the front of your seat, or if you're in the front row, it's behind your seat.

And uh some of the ways you can give, you can give through this envelope, you can give through the app.

We have a KCC app.

If you go on the App Store, you can download that.

Super great and easy to use, or you can give online as well.

Uh also with this, uh, this is also our connection card.

So if this is maybe your first time or maybe you've been here for a few weeks and uh you're just looking to connect, we would love it if you could just grab that, uh fill it out, put uh put some information on there.

And this is just one of the ways that we can connect with you.

You can drop it in the basket as the offering in the basket goes by.

And uh as well, we have a connection booth out in the lobby.

And so if you're wanting to talk to someone face to face, we have some great faces out there, and uh they would love to be able to uh answer any of your questions about what's going on in the church uh through connect groups or anything that we have going on.

So uh we would love to get you plugged in there.

As we get ready to give, uh, I was just reminded of this quote uh from a pastor at Elevation Church.

I don't know if you're familiar with him, his name is Pastor Stephen Furtick, and uh he's a great, great speaker.

If you ever have a chance to listen to him online, uh do so.

But he said this he says, Expectation is a form of faith.

You can't hope for God's best in your life if you're believing for the worst.

You can't hope for God's best in your life if you're believing for the worst.

Expect the best.

Everyone say that with me.

Expect the best.

Then he says, hope for the best and accept what God allows and give him the glory.

And I think so often, um, I think it when it comes to faith, I think so often it's easy for us to like to shrink back from the big things.

I think it's I think it's really easy for us to to actually doubt more than have faith, which is which is super hard.

Um, but it's kind of like it's just in our it's in our nature.

It's like we kind of just shrink back and we feel like um we can't ask things from God, or we feel like, oh, it's gonna be too much on God's plate today if I ask him for this thing.

He's way too busy for me.

But that's not the case.

Expectation is just having faith for something maybe God might do.

And if he doesn't, it might be for somebody else.

But it doesn't matter.

Because there's one thing I do know about God is he's not afraid of big faith.

He's not afraid of your ask.

He's not afraid of your need.

He actually wants to give you the best.

He wants to give you his best.

So I'm gonna invite the ushers forward and and as we as we give this morning, just shift that that perspective from man, I'm too much for God to man, how much does God want to do for me?

To switch that story and our perspective, because it's it's God, man, He He loves you.

We're His kids.

He loves you so deeply, and He wants the best for you.

Would you pray with me?

Father God, we just thank you so much for your word this morning.

We thank you so much for this church and this community.

And God, I just thank you so much this morning for your son who was sent to die on my behalf.

And God, that you gave everything.

You gave it all, you traded heaven for my heart.

And God, this morning we just realized that you gave it all so that we could have life.

You gave it all so that we could live in freedom.

And Father, that we just want to this morning just exercise our faith so practically just by putting money in the basket, God, that that you would use it, God, that we would trust you this morning through our finances.

And God, throughout this week, that we would just have faith for greater, have faith for the big things.

To not shrink back and be afraid, but to come into your room and and tug on your jacket with boldness and excitement.

Amen.

We can ask you, and you're not afraid of our ask.

And God, you just you don't want to bless your kids this morning.

We just thank you so much in Jesus' name.

If you agree with that, say amen.

We have a really enthusiastic agreement at the front row there.

Um as the as the basket's just getting handed around, we just have a just a few announcements that we want to share with you.

Uh last Sunday, uh, I know we announced this in the first service, but Jordan and Andy Sensiving had their baby.

Uh, you can yeah, Everett Danny.

He was born on January 22nd.

Very cute.

Uh, baby seven pounds, one ounce.

And uh, I was just told in the first service that uh I believe he's in the hospital right now.

So keep uh keep them in your prayers this week.

I believe uh Everett has uh case of bronchitis.

Uh so just be praying for that.

We want we want to see that baby healthy and back in church with us.

So could you just give it up for Andy and Jordan?

I know they're not here with us, but we just want to congratulate them as a church.

Uh our next steps program is happening again this month.

Uh today was the first class.

Uh Pastor Brian is is uh teaching that.

So if you missed it, don't worry, we're starting that up in March.

Our next step our next steps program is basically just a class where we can help you get involved or help you get plugged into our church.

Uh if you're wondering a little bit about who we are as a church, that's a great place to start.

And uh and we just we help you discover your gifts, we help you discover how you can fit in uh in a in a place of maybe you where you want to serve.

So that's just a great next step.

If maybe you're a guest or maybe you've never done the next steps program and you're thinking about it.

I believe in March it's gonna be starting up again, so you can get signed up at that back table in the lobby.

Uh, last reminder before I invite Pastor Brody up uh make sure you pick up your kids.

They probably had a great time downstairs, but we want to make sure that uh we can get them out the door and safely.

So thank you so much for coming to church today.

We hope you had a wonderful Sunday, Pastor Brody.

Amen.

Thanks, Malkai, Pastor Malachi.

Would you stand with me?

We have a few minutes here.

Let's just close with worship together.

I sense that there's a presence of God in the in the house when we talk about unity.

And I just believe we're gonna sing for a little bit, and then I I believe God wants to do something in this place.

Would you just join as we sing together?

Amen.

I just feel like you might be going through something today and you just feel like you're on your own.

And I just believe that at this time the Lord wants to put people around you to just support you at this moment.

If you're going through something, whether it's healing, you need a healing, there's some sickness, maybe you're signing a proxy for someone in the church, or someone in your family that's going through a challenge, or you've got a loved one that's far from God and you're believing for their return, would you just raise your hand?

And for those around people who are raising their hand, would you just put your hand on them, just begin to support them today, and just begin to pray for them today as we sing the song.

Amen.

Stand with one another, supporting one another.

Gather together one day.

So, Father, today we just declare no one is alone.

No one is alone, united we stand, divided we fall, and so Father, today we just pray for your spirit of unity, Lord, to follow us, Lord, into our week, follow us into our jobs, into our homes, into the parties that we attend.

Father, we just ask for your blessing, your commanded blessing on the lives of our children and our homes and our businesses, our city and other churches in this community.

In the name of Jesus and everyone who agrees says amen, amen, amen.

God bless you, enjoy your week.

All we have is God.