Same Team | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Leading us in worship the way that we do every single week.

We're so, so glad that you are here.

As you're taking your seats, would you mind turning us around you and just welcome out to Celebration Church today as we prepare to get into the Word of God today?

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I pray that you are leaned in and fired up and dialed, and we're so, so glad that you're here with us today.

Team Sunday.

And I'm pumped.

A couple of us are pumped, but I'm I'm really, really pumped because like um right now I'm still dominating in in fantasy football.

My team is doing great.

Um and so we're doing good there.

My my Eagles are tied for number one in their division.

Um, granted, they haven't started playing yet, but right now everybody's at zero.

Um so we're we're we're riding that wave, and and I and I just love seeing um the way that we've engaged this.

If you're new here, um welcome.

This is this is who we are as a church, but we're so excited about how God has the ability to kind of use moments like this for us to recognize that that we have a lot more in common than we think, that we have a lot of things that are worth celebrating.

I will mention today that um that I feel grieved in my spirit.

This is a hard transition, um, but um I feel grieved in my spirit because as I came in today full of prayer and hope and inspiration, um I don't know why the team decided to to sit someone from the Pittsburgh Steelers right in front of me.

Um I don't I I don't know who we need to talk to, Nate, but I think there's some corrections we need to make.

I don't know if we can preach.

I feel like the spirit of the Lord is left.

And then and then literally, not only do I have that, um, same state, different division, but you know, my where my allegiance lies.

Um, but then like right in my eye view, I have like a cowboy's jersey here.

And and what I want to tell you is that God is not pleased with Celebration Church right now.

Um, the prophetic anointing is on me, and I feel like God's gonna issue some judgment today.

Um, but but I'm I'm excited about um what God is doing amongst our community.

Um, if you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in the Gospel of John chapter four.

The Gospel of John chapter four.

I think that the God's gonna speak to us in this theme of us being united and connected.

Um, I want to give you some context while you're turning there so you can kind of get a sense of the momentum that we're on right now.

Jesus is still fairly early in his ministry to give you context.

In John chapter 2 is where Jesus does his first miracle, turning water into wine.

John 2 · chapter mention

So a lot of people still don't know um who Jesus is.

Most people don't, and his disciples know, his mom knows, but many others don't know exactly who Jesus is.

We get into John chapter three, and that's where we have the powerful conversation between John and um, and Jesus rather and and Nicodemus.

I'll call him Nicod Night because he came to Jesus at nighttime.

He didn't want anybody to know that that he was interested in the things that he saw Jesus doing, but he also had like a social status that he didn't want to have interrupted.

So he came to ask Jesus some questions at night, and and and from that conversation we get some of the most powerful, cleared statements of the gospel that have ever emerged from it.

Passages such as John 3.16, for God so loved the world.

At this time, the the idea of God loving the entire world was not something that any messianic Jewish person was even thinking about.

They thought that God only loved a certain people group.

But from that, God so loves the entire world, everybody, that whosoever, anyone that believes in Jesus as Lord, they will not perish but experience everlasting life.

But from that, we get this idea of the broad scope of God's love.

And then we have this moment where as Jesus' influence is beginning to grow, we see that the Pharisees, these people that kind of opposed Jesus because they just didn't understand um where he lined up with their culture and what they were expecting, that they didn't be tried to create a battle between Jesus and John the Baptist.

They were trying to set up this war because they knew that if they were united, they could have a lot more influence.

So they were trying to put them against each other.

And so Jesus said, Man, I'm not interested in being a tool that is used to divide people.

So he left the area.

Catch that.

Jesus said, I know that you're trying to use me to cause division amongst my people, and I will not be used as a tool to facilitate division, so I'm leaving this environment.

Highlight that, we're gonna come back to that.

So now we find ourselves in John chapter 4, and at verse number 3 it says this, so he left, he being Jesus, Judea, and returned to Galilee.

John 4 · chapter mention

He had to go through Samaria on the way.

Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sakar, near the field that Jacob had gave to his son Joseph.

Jacob's well was there, and Jesus was tired from his long jersey journey, and he sat wearily beside, and this was at noontime.

Soon a Samaritan woman had come to him to draw water, and Jesus said to her, Please give me a drink.

He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy food.

The woman was surprised, for Jews refused to have anything to do with the Samaritans.

She said to Jesus, You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman.

Why are you asking me for a drink?

Jesus replied, If you only knew the gift that God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me and I would give you living water.

But, sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket, she said.

This well is very deep.

Where do would you get this living water?

And besides, do you think that you're greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well?

How do you offer water better than that he gave to his sons and that his animals had enjoyed?

And Jesus replied, Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.

But those who drink the water that I give will never be thirsty again.

It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them that gives eternal life.

The last portion of this passage is something that's worth noting because as he's having this exchange with this with this young, broken woman, the conversation comes up about this water.

And and as she's looking at it in a very natural lens, she's saying, Jesus, like, you're saying that there's gonna be eternal water that gives me refreshment, that there's gonna be this water that's available to me that gives me life, that I don't have to continue to come out here.

Where is this water?

He said, Listen, if you drink this water that's here at this well, you're gonna come back to it.

Let me let me give you the the subtext of what's happening here.

You keep coming to this well, it's never gonna truly satisfy you.

But if you come to me, you will have a satisfaction that you'll never have to go anywhere else.

You know, the truth of the matter is many of us we keep going to these varying wells thinking that they are the things that's gonna bring us satisfaction.

The well of relationships, the the the well of our politics.

We keep thinking if I go here, that this is gonna bring me satisfaction.

But the reality of it is no matter how things shake out, we're not truly satisfied if we're not using Jesus as our source.

Today I want to spend some time talking to us about the importance of prioritizing God and everything that we do and everything that we see.

And I've entitled today's message, Same Team.

Let's pray and let's get into it.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for opportunities where we can come together and gather in your name and what a beautiful name it is.

Father, I pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes and open ears and open hearts to receive everything it is you want to do.

Holy Spirit, you're welcome.

And we invite you to be that living water that can rise up on the inside of us, that can challenge us, that can change us, that can inspire us to look more and more like Jesus.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

I still vividly remember the summer of 2017.

Um, it was the time where Caleb, Megan, and myself, we had packed up our our family, we packed up our stuff, and we had got onto auto train, which is right here in Sanford, heading towards the Washington, D.C.

area.

We were moving uh to DC to serve an amazing church there.

I still remember it just as vivid as it happened yesterday.

And as we packed our stuff up and we were on this train ride, I just remember journaling some thoughts of what I was expecting God to do.

I knew that I was going to an amazing, diverse community of people that had different backgrounds from race to economic status.

It was really a melting pot church that we were just inspired to be a part of.

And I went there with a singular theme.

I simply said, I want to serve the people that impact the world.

Because these are people that are working in every area of of the government and anything connected to it.

So I was looking forward uh to serving that community, and when we got there, we hit the ground running and it was it was exciting.

But it didn't take long for that for that honeymoon period to wear off.

It didn't take long, it was about a month, in fact.

Because if you guys remember, in August of that same summer, we we had this tragedy that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia.

And that is where we had this racial tension that erupted that resulted in the loss of life.

And so, as we typically do in our in our church setting, whenever we have moments like this that happen that affect not only our culture, our country, we take moments to pray about it.

So I remember me and the pastor and the staff, we said, hey, let's let's get together and let's pray on Sunday about bringing us all together as a people.

I remember standing on a stage and we held hands and we prayed and we declared the the goodness of God.

We prayed for unity, and as we said this statement, we were simply saying, Hey, about an hour away from where we are right now, we we have experienced an ugly overflow of division.

This is not God's will.

Let us pray for unity for our nation.

Let's pray for unity for our brothers and sisters.

I honestly, if I can be honest with you, just dust off my shoulder a little bit.

That was a dope prayer.

It was it was a dope prayer.

It was a dope prayer.

I was like, man, like this is this is a good one.

Like, this is gonna be one where the people are gonna cheer and like, yes, we're united.

Like, but to my disappointment, the reaction was a little bit different.

At the end of service, as I was standing outside greeting and saying goodbye to the families that were coming and going, I was surprised to see that there was a couple of people that were waiting, which is common.

So I'm like, okay, great, like let's have a conversation.

And immediately the first thing that this person says to me is like, that was the most divisive prayer I've ever heard in my life.

And I said, and and I mean, listen, I got on a Philly's jersey, right?

So I'm like, I'm like, man, I'm from Philly, like, what are you talking about?

But I was like, okay, let me let me put on my Christian hat.

I'm like, excuse me, explain to me what exactly was divisive about the prayer.

And then he began to explain the context of what was happening.

And Charlotte's like, well, this group of people and this group of people, and and this is what happened there, and these people did this, and that is why that happened, and your prayer, you should have acknowledged that.

I said, So you feel like I should have got on stage and talked about the politics of it.

I'm like, man, I said that's not what this is for.

He's like, I I I thought I could, I thought I could stick it out with this church when you people came.

I'm from Philly, yo.

I was like, what?

But I was like, okay.

I said, well, hey man, I said, you know, there's a great church for you somewhere, but this probably isn't it.

We we we would love for you to stay, but if this isn't where you want to be, man, we absolutely want to invite you to go to a place that you can feel you can thrive in.

So I was like, okay, that's cool.

That's that's that's one bad apple, right?

Then on the other side, I had someone come to me and like, man, you you should have done a better job at calling out white supremacy and and and you should have said some other direct things.

And and I and I stood there and I was I was genuinely confused because I I recognized that if if I exalt Christ and it doesn't fit into any one box, then it seems to offend everybody.

Imagine that.

Simply declaring Jesus offends people.

Simply not falling into anyone's side offends people.

And and I found myself at this place where I was like, I don't, I don't know what we can say, I don't know what I can do, because if I declare the goodness of God and if I don't construct it in a way that supports your ideology, then I'm gonna offend people.

Is anybody gonna be left in the church?

But then 2018 happened, the unimaginable happened, and it was literally a ram in a thicket.

In 2018, coming out of that 2017 hostility, the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl.

Like I I was I was blown away.

I had to stop going on social media altogether because as I was looking at social media, there were people that I've baptized their children, I've married them, there are people that I was in relationship with, and I'm seeing on this tool the most hate-filled, angry, bitter, non-Christian things ever stated in the name of representing Christ.

So I said, I can't, I can't even go into here.

So so you can only imagine that when my Philadelphia God's team Eagles wins the Super Bowl, and then I step my toe back into social media, how I was able to recognize the same people that were once at each other's throats because they're on separate sides, were somehow united and excited.

I was like, wait a minute, we're on to something.

Lord, are you telling me that you ordained the Philadelphia Eagles for such a time as this to bring the people of God back together?

Maybe, maybe that's what it was.

But then there is more because we're living in DC and then the nationals had won.

Wait a minute.

I'm I'm surrounded by champions at this point.

Like everywhere I turn, there are teams that are winning their respective areas.

I'm not gonna say it's me, but I'm not gonna not say it's me.

Like, I it just seems as if that I was there and championships were there.

So that's all I'm gonna say.

You can do with that what you will.

But but I began to recognize and see this energy that began to surge into the city.

People that were at one point at odds with one another somehow found something to be excited about together.

I started recognizing that people were wearing the same jerseys, and sometimes even if you were on the other side, I had friends of mine that were like, hey, Keith, you know I'm a Giants fan, and you know that God's not with me, but I'm proud of the Eagles for winning the Super Bowl.

I know you've been waiting a long time.

I began to recognize people that were on separate sides of the teams I cheered for, and yet there was still like this common ground that we were able to establish.

It's interesting how sports has an ability to bring the people of God together no matter what.

But the name of Jesus can't.

That that somehow we we can allow the fact that we cheer for the same team, that we celebrate, and that we have this shared goal.

That's enough to bring us together.

But if I declare the goodness of God and refuse to define him by our preconceived notions, that's not good enough.

It reminded me that we are the champions because we serve a risen Savior, that we are the champions because Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord is Lord.

Why are we allowing the world to define the way that we can be united?

It was then I began to recognize that God was stirring us to begin to change the paradigm that we were used to.

I began to ask this question: what if the body of Christ actually began to look like Christ?

What if if we began to actually read the Bible and do what it says?

Pray for those who spitefully use you.

When was the last time you prayed for somebody that you didn't agree with?

People are like, man, is that in the Bible?

Yes, it is.

It's in there, I promise you it is.

Why is it so hard?

I think it's because we allow the labels to divide us.

It's so easy.

If I could slap a label on somebody, I can dehumanize them in such a way that it allows me to justify not treating them like they're made in the image of God.

If I could put a label on it, I don't have to look at the fact that you have a mother, that you have children, and that you have some of the same things that you're interested in that I am.

But if I put a label on it and I can simplify that label, then it's okay with me just using that label to dehumanize you.

It allows me to be okay with using that label to tear you down and not look at you as someone who's made in the image of God.

God is saying it is time for us to stop using the labels to define one another.

Labels divide us, but God is the one who unites us.

And if we can get to a place where we recognize that, we can stop making an altar to our differences.

Let me let me say it this way.

A lot of times we allow the label to justify treating someone not like Christ in the name of Christ.

But let me say this respectfully.

If you taking a stand for Christ means not looking like him, you're doing it wrong.

If you taking a stand for Jesus means you're not looking like Jesus, then you're not doing it the right way.

Let me give you some scripture for it.

John 18, Jesus is about to be arrested.

And Peter, Peter is about that life.

He pulled his sword out and cut off a man's ear.

He's like, Jesus, I'm not gonna let anyone, I'm gonna stand, I'm gonna defend you, Jesus.

Now you would think that if that's the posture that Jesus wanted him to have, he's like, that's right, everybody get their swords, let's fight.

What did Jesus do?

Peter, what are you doing?

Have you ever seen me pull a sword out?

Do you not realize I have angels?

Do you think I honestly need you to protect me?

Put the sword up.

And then he heals the man who was injured.

Now let's take that moment and zoom out.

Why do we feel like God needs us to defend him?

Why do we feel like we need to we need to offend and attack people in all in the name of God?

I assure you, our theology is all mixed up.

God doesn't need us to defend him.

What he needs is for us to live, allowing him to live through us.

That is how we are able to be a perfect example of what does it mean to be a follower of Christ.

We have to be reminded that these labels that the world tries to tell us to put on other people is the very mechanism that the enemy uses to bring division.

These labels divide us, but it is God that unites us.

And as we look around in this room, we may have different backgrounds, but we're on the same team.

We may have different jerseys, but we're on the same team.

We may come here from different countries, but we're on the same team.

We may have some different beliefs, but we're on the same team.

As long as we exalt Jesus above all else, we can actually see that we're on the same team, even in spite of some of our differences.

We are on the same team.

But but it requires us to shift some things around and have a kingdom mindset.

Because here's what we understand about the kingdom.

In the kingdom of God, there is no racism.

In the kingdom of God, there is no division.

In the kingdom of God, there is no gender divide.

In the kingdom of God, there are no ethnic issues.

In the kingdom of God, we are one.

There's distinction, but there's there's also unity.

Think of the scene that John describes in Revelation chapter 7, where it says, and after this I look, and behold, there was a vast multitude from every nation, every tribe, every people, every language.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

I couldn't even count how many it was, and they were all in their robes and they were standing before the throne.

Remember, on earth as it is in heaven, in heaven, there was literally a distinction of the different nations, there's a distinction of the languages, there's a distinction of the culture, and all of those distinctions were able to be in heaven because they were all submitted under the King of Kings.

Here's what I want us to grab a hold of.

It's something that I want to make a shift in saying.

I've often heard people say, hey man, I don't I don't see color.

God does.

Because he created them.

He wants us to celebrate our distinctions instead of the pearls and division with our differences.

Those distinctions exist in heaven, and I believe if we can begin to recognize that our differences are things that should be celebrated, instead of them being things that we need to cause division in, we can actually start functioning with the unity that Christ had intended us to function with.

We can have our distinctions, but still be unified under the name of Jesus.

He shows us this when he goes to Samaria, because the passage says that he had to go through Samaria.

If you have your Bibles, you can go back and look at it, highlight it.

What Jesus says is, I have to go through Samaria.

He had to.

Now, at the expense of contradicting our Lord, he didn't technically have to go through Samaria.

For where he was going, there had already been three paths he could have taken that would have allowed him to avoid going through Samaria.

In fact, any Orthodox Jewish person would avoid going to Samaria because the Samaritans were viewed as unclean.

The Samaritans were this mixed race of people that they viewed as being subhuman and they wanted to have nothing to do with them.

So for Jesus to say, I have to go there, he was communicating something very strong for us.

He was saying that I'm not trying to go around it.

I don't want to go when no one's not looking.

I have to go and deal with this.

When he was communicating to us, we can't heal ourselves of the problems that we don't acknowledge.

We have to be willing to go into those uncomfortable places to deal with it.

Jesus could have very well just said, like, hey guys, at the end of all of this, I want you guys to be cool with the Samaritans.

Hey, we're going to pray for Samaria.

No, Jesus said, I have to go there.

And the reason I have to go there is because I need to show you what reconciliation looks like.

I have to show it to you.

So the Bible says that Jesus goes to Samaria.

And when he gets there, he begins to have this conversation.

So how do we learn from what we see Jesus do and implement it into our own lives?

It's super, it's super simple.

I believe we have to learn to be fans of one another.

We have to learn to be fans of one another.

We have to celebrate with those who celebrate.

We have to mourn with those who mourn.

We have to pray for those.

Like we have to be fans of one another.

But to make it more practical, let's break it down.

F.

We need to learn how to find common ground.

We need to learn how to find common ground.

So often we're so busy focusing on the areas that we don't agree on that we don't recognize that in many instances we sh we we have more common than we think we do.

We actually have more in agreement than we think we do, but we have an ability to exalt our differences at such a way that we don't even recognize that we have common ground.

Jesus and the woman at the well, they were both at the well.

Was common ground.

They both needed water.

They both believed in, they both believed in Jacob.

They both believed in the Messiah.

Even though there were massive cultural barriers, even though there were massive theological differences, they had different beliefs in so many different things.

The Samaritans had took portions of the Bible and he kind of reworked it to kind of fit their ideology.

The Jews had came and burned down their temple.

They had a lot of beef that was going on in this moment.

But Jesus said, but let's find common ground.

What if we began to approach the people that we disagree with, not from a posture of knowing that we're right, but saying, like, hey, where can we find common ground?

This is helpful even in our marriages.

This is helpful in every context of relationship we have.

If I can just find the area that we actually have agreement on, if I can just identify that one thing, that becomes the place that we can have a conversation.

Not only did Jesus allow this to be a space where they had common ground, but then he began to the next space, which is address the issues, don't attack the person.

Address the issues, don't attack the person.

Unfortunately, if I can have a radical moment of honesty, honesty, that one's hard.

Man, because you know the Bible tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood.

We go against principalities and spiritual wickedness in high places.

That's that's Paul's language saying that there's spiritual warfare, that there's these spiritual things that are happening in a realm that we don't even see that is trying to foster division.

So Paul's making sure that we understand that the enemy you see is not the enemy.

And that's hard.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood.

I hear what you're saying, God, but there's a name and there's a person that I'm really upset with right now.

There's a name and there's a person that really has offended me, that stepped on my toes.

What do you mean that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood?

Do I not acknowledge the pain that has come at the name of an individual?

Absolutely not.

But it means that we need to make sure that as we're moving forward, that I'm not attacking the person I'm addressing the issue.

I had to learn this the hard way in my marriage.

Because man, I'm a type A personality, my wife's a type A personality.

So, bro, we would we would be walking around the same mountain for months at a time.

And we'll find ways to reconcile in a moment, but then we would be right back around that mountain again.

Have you ever like been in a space in a relationship and you feel yourself like, are we still talking about this?

Like, why why why are we still talking about?

I thought we resolved this, I thought we were past this.

But a lot of times what it is is we didn't ever address the issues, we were too busy attacking one another.

And because we never addressed the issue and we're trying to take ground from one another, the moment that you say something that appears as if it's attacking me, then I have to defend myself.

Let me give you uh let me give you a uh a reenactment of early years of Pittman and um Keith and Megan marriage.

Okay, so apparently Megan wants me to put my shoes up when I take them off.

I feel like my shoes aren't hurting anybody.

If they're over there, I'm going to wear them tomorrow.

So why do I need to put them up just to take them back out?

So I would leave my shoes out occasionally.

And so she was walking by my shoes one time and she tripped over them.

Now, to me, the shoes were where they were.

And so she looks at me and says, You are so messy.

I don't know who Megan Pay, but Corey, can you get her out of here?

Um she said, You are so messy.

And I said, I'm messy?

You're clumsy.

Oh, I don't get any applause?

She could call me messy, but all of a sudden, when I say she's clumsy, I'm the devil incarnate.

Man, I can see this place is divided and biased right now.

We got more work to do.

See, you're you're clumsy.

We never address the issue.

What do you mean I'm clumsy?

You shouldn't.

And instead of us addressing the fact, like, hey, the shoes are an issue.

This is why it's an issue.

Can we resolve the issue?

We never even talked about it because when she called me messy and I called her clumsy, the battle continued.

You know what happened?

The next week, the shoes were still there.

I clean up after myself now, guys.

God renewed in Christ.

My point is this that's a small example of when we have a moment that we need to address something, but instead of addressing something, we can attack one another.

That's such a small scale, but how often does that happen in our day-to-day lives and on things that may be much bigger?

But what God wants us to do is to learn how to address the issues instead of attacking the person.

As Jesus is talking with the Samaritan woman, he begins to like brilliantly just weave through conversation.

The first thing she says is, You Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.

That's you're over here, I'm over here.

These are the labels that divide us.

I didn't make the rules, don't hate the player, hate the game.

This is the way it's done.

But Jesus, instead of falling into that, he begins to just tear it down.

Like, hey, listen, like, I didn't come here for that.

Let's have a conversation about this, this, this Holy Spirit that's available to us.

Jesus brilliantly and theologically walks her through this process, not attacking her, but he literally in that moment is able to address sin.

He talks about the Holy Spirit, he talks about salvation, he even talks about worship.

He says, Listen, the time is coming where you're not even have to be consumed about whether you should worship in Jerusalem or out here.

Actually, the Messiah is gonna fix all of that.

Instead of him attacking the woman, he is just addressing her issues.

What would it look like if we did the same thing?

If we begin to address the issues instead of attacking one another, that set the tone for the next thing.

And as simply as this never forget that Jesus is Lord.

Don't forget this.

Never forget that Jesus is Lord.

They shift the conversation and they begin to talk about the Messiah.

This Messiah that everybody was waiting for.

Jesus says, like, hey, if you only understood who you were talking to, you would have a completely different posture.

All the problems you're talking about, the answer is actually found in me, the Messiah.

But right now we're so busy talking about these labels and these things that define us and attacking each other that you're missing out on the Messiah is actually the answer to all of these problems.

That every problem that she presented, Jesus was saying, I am the solution to it.

I think sometimes we forget that Jesus is Lord.

I think sometimes, if we're honest with ourselves, there are moments that we that we forget that God is in control.

Jesus began to gently remind her of who the Messiah was and what she can experience in and through him.

I want to put that in front of us right now.

That Jesus is good enough.

Receive this.

Jesus is good enough.

Let me say it again.

Jesus is good enough.

I I know that there's some outcomes that we're looking for, but Jesus is good enough.

I know there's some things that you wish were a little bit different, but but Jesus is enough.

I I I know maybe your person didn't get in office, but Jesus is enough.

Because if we continue to keep going to these wells of the world, we're gonna still be thirsty.

We're still not gonna be unified.

But if we recognize that in Christ we are unified, that in Christ we have deliverance, that in Christ we have victory, we can then begin to live with the posture of knowing that Jesus is enough.

He's enough for my marriage, he's enough for my family, he's enough, Jesus is enough.

Sometimes we forget that Jesus is Lord, and I want to say this as lovingly as possible.

Anything that we place in front of Jesus is an idol.

Let me let me say it this way.

I am not a black Christian, I am a Christian who is black.

You are not a white Christian, you are a Christian who is white.

Okay, let me see, let me say that.

You are not an American Christian, you're a Christian who lives in America.

The problem is when we put the other thing in front of Jesus, that sets the rules that determine how I can behave and treat other people.

And now I can exalt an ideology that's inconsistent with Jesus.

But if I can recognize I am not an American Christian, I'm a Christian that lives in America, then I don't have to exalt anything above the Bible.

That actually determines everything else.

When I can make sure that my identity is found in Jesus, then I don't have to exalt my identity outside of that above Jesus.

What I want us to grab a hold of is stop allowing these labels and these things that the world places on us and putting them in front of Jesus.

Absolutely, I am proud of who I am, but I am a Christian first, which then allows me to recognize that you may be different from me, but Jesus is first, and in him there is unity.

So even though we may be wearing different jerseys, we're on the same team.

We may have different backgrounds, but we're on the same team.

We may have coming from different perspectives, but we're on the same team because I refuse to allow the division things to go in front of Jesus.

Stop allowing the devil to put the things of the world in front of the name of Christ.

This is God's will for every single one of us.

So I'm gonna invite the worship team to come back out and join us and be reminded for every single one of us that Jesus is truly, He's enough.

Jesus is Lord.

No matter what else is going on, Jesus is absolutely Lord.

What I love that Christ does is he changes the narrative.

In this world that was deeply divided with the Jews and Samaritans, Jesus changed the narrative.

He went to an environment that no one else would dare go to.

He spent time with people that no one else would spend time with.

He he changed the narrative.

And the way that he changed the narrative was because he spent time with them.

He spent two more days in Samaria.

The place that everyone else avoids, the place that everyone else runs from, Jesus went there and stayed there.

He spent time with the people that everyone else wanted to reject.

The second thing he did is he spoke differently about them.

Do you guys remember the narrative of the parable of the good Samaritan, where Jesus talks and tells the story about, hey, there was a man that was on his way to Jerusalem and he gets attacked and he's left half dead, and everybody walked by him and ignored him.

But the Samaritan actually came and binded up his wounds and took care of them.

Let me tell you the significance of this statement that Jesus was making.

At that time, to say a Samaritan was good was an oxymoron.

It was literally used as a profanity.

You can actually read when Jesus' ministry was starting, they actually accused him of being a Samaritan.

It was like a derogatory term.

But Jesus then uses the very thing that people reject to highlight a profound biblical principle.

He begins to speak differently about the people that everyone else rejected.

He spent time with them.

He stopped talking and then allowed people to talk negatively about them.

And then lastly, he literally tells his disciples for the Great Commission, as he's about to go into heaven, he says, Listen, you guys got work to do.

And here's what I want you to do: I want you to go into Jerusalem, Judea, and to Samaria, and then the rest of the world.

He literally sent them back to serve the people that they once despised.

What if we got to a place where we could actually begin to speak differently about the people that are different from us?

We can spend time with people that are different from us, and we actually can serve the people that are different from us.

This is how Jesus was able to change the narrative.

And I gotta believe if he did it as an example of what we should do, that if we do it, we can actually begin to see us take ground as a people the way that God had intended it to.

When we came in today, we were given our communion cups.

I want to ask us all to go ahead and grab those.

If you didn't get them, you can slip a hand up, and someone from our team would love to come and provide you with one.

As Jesus is sitting at the table, which we often refer to as the Last Supper, I want to remind us that he's surrounded by his disciples.

And and if you didn't catch this, his disciples had different backgrounds.

Meaning, if you do enough study, you can actually see that there was zealots, these were a different ideological group.

You had Pharisees there, you had Sadducees there, you had a bunch of different people that had different political aspirations, theological perspectives, but somehow they were all sitting at the exact same table as Jesus.

And he says that every time you guys come together, I want you to do this in remembrance of me.

At this time, I want to ask us to grab the bread.

And before you take it, I I want to I want to pray a prayer over us.

Because what Jesus says is that this is my body that is broken for you.

In other words, I was broken so that you can experience wholeness.

I want you to be whole in your relationship with me, and I want you to be whole in your relationships with others.

It's a beautiful reminder of the redemptive work of God that I want to tear down these barriers that keep us apart so that we can be united in me.

So with that posture, in a room full of diversity and different backgrounds, let us take this bread, knowing I am reconciled with God, but I'm also reconciled with everyone that is different from me.

Let us take any.

So as we reflect on this, let us take the juice, being reminded of the unifying work of Christ on the cross.

We're not going to attack one another, but knowing that Jesus is Lord.

Lord, we thank you.

We thank you for your goodness.

And we thank you that on days like today, on Team Sunday, that this is an outward expression of who we are at heart and what you want to see in your kingdom.

A place of a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives, but are united under you.

So, Father, we exalt your name above everything else.

We exalt your name above our differences.

We exalt your name above our divisions, God.

We exalt your name above it all, God, because we know that in you there is no rival, that in you there is unity.

So, Father, as we worship, I pray that you do a deep work on the inside of us that allows us to be transformed from the inside out.

It's in Jesus' name.

Let's worship church.

Thanks again for listening.

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