COMPLETE UNITY - Introduction

Hey, go church family. This is Gilbert. Welcome back to a new podcast, a new month, a new series

I'm here with pastor Matt Haribo. I'm excited. Praise God. This is going to be a great,

this is going to be a great month and a great study. And I'm also here with Christelle.

Hello everyone. I'm so excited to be with you. Ahlan Ahlan. Thank you. Are you guys surprised?

Yeah. Where's Laura? Don't worry. Laura will be back. Laura will be back next week.

Laura will be back next week, but we're so happy to have Christelle, a new voice,

a new heart joining in on this podcast. And we're super excited. So you might be listening to this

right now and think, Hey, wonder if I could be on the podcast. And the answer to that is sure.

Ahlan. Absolutely. We're so glad that our content team is growing. Yes, it is. We have more and

more people sharing their hearts because you know what the Lord doesn't only speak through

pastor Matt, the Lord doesn't only speak through the people who've you've previously heard on this

podcast, but the Lord has words that he's sharing across the church for the church.

Yeah. And we value, we value the revelation. We put great, um, that's how I would say it,

you know, revelation, the, the seeing of truth is the most valuable thing we can get.

The, the Psalmist calls it treasure and we should treat it like that.

Yeah, that's right. So today we're going to dig into some new treasure. Yeah. How awesome it is

that we get to see the Lord's word and the light in the Lord's word. And we're able to move further

and further in these things together as a church in unity. Yeah. And that is what we're talking

about this month. We're talking about a new series called complete unity. Yeah. And Christelle is

here because actually this, this series was born in her heart. Yeah. And the Lord just showed her

some things and revealed his word to her. And it's helped her come further, you know, it's helped

her, the word of God, when, when we receive it as his word is always working in us and is always

producing in us. And so today we're going to take the opportunity to hear a little bit from Christelle

about the word that has been growing in her. And I'm sure that over the course of this month,

it's also going to grow in us. It's going to be really great for us to dig into this subject

from scripture in our grow groups. And of course, if you're new to go church, that's really church

for us. Instead of meeting all together in one place on a, on a particular day, we actually meet

in groups that we call grow groups and we have grow groups. Thank God that meet everywhere all

the time. Yeah. We're so glad to, to hear that, you know, at the beginning of the year last month

when pastor Matt shared the message on the big Sunday, he shared some key numbers that we see

key numbers that we saw that actually took place that happened over at 2023. And, and we see that

by the end of 2023, we were at seven grow groups. So we went from three grow groups to seven grow

groups. Not only is it three to seven grow groups, but it is one grow group in Arabic. So that's a

new language. There is a grow group for parents and kids. So that's, you know, different kinds

of demographics. More than one in, in Arabic, because in Sheka our group in the North meets.

Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And so we have different demographics as well. So

we have kids and parents, we have different regions in Lebanon. So we have groups meeting,

as pastor Matt just said, as far North as Sheka. And Christelle leads a group and her group is

growing. And probably Christelle is going to be announcing a new group that's starting out of hers,

which is what I'm excited about. Am I right, Christelle? That's 100% right.

Yeah. So before we go any further, who is Go Church? What is Go Church? Go Church is your place to

love, grow and go. We say love because we want you to experience the unconditional love of God.

We say grow because we want you to grow in that love. And we say go because we want you to take

that love and go to your world with that love. I always say this, my favorite words are your place.

Yeah. Because it is your place. It is not only a specific set of people's place. It is not

the people who you see on stage on Big Sunday's place. It is your place. Go Church is a place

where you can get fed. You can grow in this love and you can do something for the Lord and

do something that the Lord has placed in your heart. You can do that when you are connected

to Go Church Beirut. Go Church Beirut is also a Bible-based. It is a spirit-filled and it is a

groups-centered church. So like we were just talking about, most of our meetings happen in small groups,

across the country at different times. And we are looking forward to this growing and growing and

growing and multiplying. So how do we typically do church? Well, once a month on the second Sunday

of every month, all our groups get together at our Big Sunday gathering. That has been happening

at the municipality at Sinelfil at 11 a.m. And what we do there is we just get together. We worship

the Lord together. We have a great time. We listen to a message which is linked to the series

for the month. And then in the rest of the month, during the rest of the month, we meet in small

groups where we dig deeper and deeper and deeper into the series. So we learn together. We allow

the Lord to speak to us. We learn how to apply these truths in our lives because everything we

do is on purpose. We don't just teach theology for the sake of theology at church. We teach the word

of God because the word of God contains power. It contains life. It is able to equip you to go

further on your spiritual journey in the way that the Lord has for you. So if you are part of Go

Church, that means you are part of the Grow Group. That's right. And that is where we do church.

Yeah. So much. And that's a it's kind of a funny expression. Do church or this is church for us

because church has become an event for so many people. And what we want as the Go Church family

is for it to really return to what we see in the Book of Acts, which is an expression

through our life of our faith and decision to follow Jesus. Yeah. So I want to ask a question

to Christelle because as we just mentioned, Christelle is a Grow Group leader. You know,

it's not she's a Grow Group leader, but she's also part of a Grow Group, right? I mean, this is where

she participates in church. This is where she gets fed, even if she's leading the group. So Christelle,

what is your experience so far with Grow Groups? What would you say to someone who's listening

right now thinking, hey, like, could I ever become a Grow Group leader? Well, that's a great question,

especially that whenever you are part of a Grow Group, that's where activation is there.

God will activate so many things in your life. He's going to show you so many gifts that you have

that are inside of you, but you did not dig deeper into that so you can find them. And that's where

the community that you are in and the Grow Group that you are in will help you to activate that.

So if you are asking yourself if you can be one day a Grow Group leader, that's a great question

that the answer is yes, because God will equip you before he placed you. He will equip you

to be the greatest Grow Group leader, and he will give you everything you need. And one of the best

characters that you can have as a Grow Group leader is that you will bring unity to the Grow

Group that we're going to speak about today. That's excellent. Yeah, that's really good.

Very good. Christelle, would you say as a Grow Group leader, you need to know all the answers?

Definitely not. That's one thing that started to change in me, is that as a Grow Group leader,

I don't need to have all the answers. The answers are in the Bible. So what does the Bible say about

that, if you have any questions? And it's something that as a Grow Group leader, all I need to know

is that I have to be sure that everyone is active, everyone is having part,

is speaking what they want to speak regarding the subject that we're speaking about.

That's excellent. That's really good. I also come to Christelle's Grow Group once in a while, and

I've had the privilege of being part of a couple of different Grow Groups. I so enjoy

just experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit teaching in a Grow Group. So when we all come

together in unity, we are all focused on the same thing. And when we're focused on the same thing,

we're allowing the Lord to basically reveal His Word to us that He put in the church, so that

we are able to take that Word, that we're able to grow in that Word, we're able to learn how to

apply those words to our lives. And I do want to say this, that you don't come and attend

church. You don't come and attend the Grow Group. We always say that we don't attend,

but we participate because every single person should be heard. Every single person has questions.

Every single person has things that the Lord is telling them. And if you don't feel like,

if you don't feel like, oh, I'm ready to lead the group, or I don't know if I'm there yet,

you don't have to wait to bring your supply to the group. You can bring your supply by being a

helper. You can bring your supply by bringing cookies. You can bring your supply by help setting

up and help cleaning up. Everything is needed in order to actually accomplish or to actually

make the Grow Group happen. So don't wait to, well, I was going to say don't wait to activate.

I'm not rapping here. I'm just saying. That should be a t-shirt.

That's funny. And, you know, taking this a little further, we said that we have,

you know, big Sunday gathering once a month, all these Grow Groups happening. We also have

what's called a Believer's Gathering that happens on the fourth Friday night of every month. So

I say on every month, on most months, as much as we're able to put it together. So those also happen.

So fourth Friday nights, those also happen at Synod Field Municipality.

We are going to have one this month, so February the 23rd. And that is going to start, well,

doors open at 7 p.m. And it is also a larger format meeting. It's a time when we come together,

we worship the Lord, we wait on the Lord, we minister to the Lord, and we create room,

and probably more room than we would in other meetings, to just allow the Lord to take us

in the flow that he wants to take us in. So a lot of the time we sing songs together. A lot of the

time, you know, we see and we are expecting gifts of the Holy Spirit to be in operation.

And sometimes there are, you know, words that Pastor Matt would share, or a message. And there

are other times when we just pray together, corporate prayer. And so that is a flexible

meeting where we allow the Holy Spirit to really move in our congregation. They're amazing meetings.

I so enjoy them. I would encourage you to be part of that. The next big Sunday gathering will also

be happening on February 11th at the municipality. So don't miss that. We'll have tons of fun.

So let's get into our series for this month, which is called Complete Unity. The more I say the name,

the more I like the name. Complete Unity, really, that is the message. Because it's not

meant to be partial. It's not meant to be just a bit or a piece. Yeah, that's right. So,

you know, this year as we were thinking through the themes that we wanted to talk about and the

themes that we really wanted to cover as a church, I was really keen on doing this, which, you know,

Christelle mentioned activation. So she mentioned activation as a value that we carry in our Go

Church Grow Groups. And there are actually four values that we talk about consistently that

are part of our Grow Groups, which are care, accountability, activation, and communication.

So you can, you know, you can make acronyms with these words. C squared and A squared. Yeah.

But I like Laura's acronym, which is CAC. Yes. Christelle was worried I would say something

on podcast. No, we're good. It's CAC. With a C. But why I bring this up is because we, you know,

we want to be more deliberate this year at pointing these values out in the word of God

that we are sharing on the podcast, because we want not only to come to Grow Groups and

do the study portion well, but we want to come to Grow Groups and do life well together. That's

right. As believers. Yeah. And life as believers does not only start and stop once a week for one

hour during a discussion, but it starts and never stops when we care about each other,

when we're accountable to each other, when we help each other to activate the gifts that are

in us so that we are able to go further in the plan of God for our lives. When we communicate

with each other and we, when we allow, you know, the different parts of the body to come in contact

with different parts of church activities that they belong in, you know, when we communicate those

things effectively, we are really helping to strengthen the believers and the body of believers

coming together. So I think it's just so appropriate that we bring this up during a series

called Complete Unity. This month, we're really going to look at Complete Unity from the perspective

of the love of God and the love of God in us and what that love means in our walk. So obviously

we're going to talk about care, right? Care is an obvious value that we can think of when it comes

to loving one another, right? That's, that's, you can't really separate those things. You can't say,

you know, I love someone and you don't actively take measures, take steps to show care, to do care

and to, you know, to genuinely support someone around you. But we're also going to see

accountability and activation as themes because when we are in unity, we're working together,

we're living together, we're growing together, you know, we're walking in love together. So

of course we have a level of accountability one to another and we also have a sense of wanting to

engage each other, wanting to activate each other in the way that, you know, the Lord would have us

come into our place. So I'm going to really ask Christelle a bunch of questions now because

like we said, Christelle came up with this, with this theme and came up with this title for this

theme. And actually it's been, it hasn't been a theme that is, that is just new and she came up

with last week. It's something that's actually been on her heart for a while. I remember that

she brought this up back in, when was it? October or November? October, yes. Yeah. So Christelle,

tell us a little bit about how this came up in your heart.

Well, honestly, I was going from the hospital where my dad was, because he went into the hospital,

and I was going on my way home and I felt like the Lord is telling me to write something. And

then I went to a coffee shop and I sat down there and I asked the Lord, what do you want me to write

about? And I didn't wait for him to answer. That's the funny part. I thought that he wanted me to

write about what I experienced during these days when my dad was at the hospital, because I had

the joy of the Lord all of these days. And then he stopped me and he asked me to open 1 Corinthians

and I opened Corinthians 1 and then he showed me this amazing verse that is verse 10, where

he said, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you

agree with one another in what you say and that there be no division among you, but that you be

perfectly united in mind and thoughts. And that's where I stopped. And the Lord automatically

reminded me that this is going to be a message that you have to write to the church.

And whenever I saw this word division among you, I searched like Paul was writing to a church. He

wasn't writing to someone else. He wasn't writing to a different community, but to the church.

And that's where I felt like I think this is going to be a great message, especially that whenever I

was writing that message, I remembered the Turkish light that Pastor Matt Beamer always talks about

and that every small part of it is great and it completes each other. They all complete each other.

They all make great light, a great design. There's small parts, there's big parts, and all of them

create this beautiful, beautiful design. So it doesn't matter if you're helping, you're serving,

you're preaching, you're worshiping, but you're doing something to complete that whole image.

That's excellent. That's so good. So I just want to, I've seen that picture of the Turkish light and

if you haven't seen it, you can Google it. But it's these small glass structures and it's like a

mosaic of glass. The light source is inside and it shines through these multifaceted different colors.

It's gorgeous. Yeah, it's beautiful. So it kind of looks like the, you know, if you walk into an

old stone church building, you see like the stained glass images or it's just like little

different colors of glass and the sunlight comes through and you see greens and reds and blues.

But it's beautiful and I like the way you're pulling that truth out because we are called

together. That's a fundamental revelation that Go Church is built on, that we're called together.

This isn't, as you know, Gilbert, you were saying that your favorite words are,

it's your place to love Grow Go. It's not someone else's. It's not a place to attend.

It's not an event that is held. It's something that we are called to be part of. And Christelle,

what I love about this and what I love about this message is if we're called to be together,

one of the facets of that calling is to ensure that there's no division among us.

It's everyone's responsibility. And the simple way to do that is when I see that I start getting

divided in myself from someone, I put a stop to it. Can you tell us more about what you mean?

I think that we'll dig into that as we go through our study. But let me say this,

the responsibility for ensuring unity is not anyone else's. It's mine. And if we all take

that position, that's how we can execute that command that we see in scripture. And that's

really the point that I want to bring out. Unity is a commandment. And I'm not sure if Christelle

or Gilbert wrote that in the notes, unity is a commandment. When I read it, I heard this on the

inside, unity is a commitment. So it's great that there is a command because we know that the

commands of the Lord come all automatically equipped with the ability to do. But then I

have to make a commitment to apply it. And so being called together, and again, coming back to

Pastor Ratbeamer's example, he actually said that by tongues and interpretation originally,

that came out by inspired utterance. And if you've not seen one of these lights, it's a great picture.

But in order for that light to work, all these different pieces cannot work against one another,

they work together for one purpose. So unity is a command from the Lord. And it requires a commitment

from me to do. That's really good. Christelle, so when you received this word, because you felt

like in your heart, I want to write this down. And you saw that verse, which is amazing. So

1 Corinthians chapter one, verse 10. What did that word do for you? Like, how did that word help you?

So since that point, until now, what changes have you seen in your heart? And what would you want

people who are listening, like, what is one thing you would want them to really hear out of this?

Well, while I was writing this message, one thing that is still working in me is learning

how to show the love of Jesus to others. Because while I was writing this message,

there's some things that came up in my heart that I did not write. Like, for example, I was

writing it, and the Lord told me that miracles will bring attention. But whenever you show Jesus

to the world and you show the love of Jesus to the world, that's when people will get to know Him

and will accept Him. And they will accept us because of this love. And they will see the grace

in us because of this love. And something I'm still working on is walking in love every day

with everyone around me. And as Pastor Matt said, that the division starts with yourself.

Because whenever you think about it, and division starts because of deception in a place, and

deception comes from, it doesn't come from God, but from Satan. And whenever you start feeling

that way, something that you can do is that you can take time to pray and to ask the Lord to fill

you with His love towards those people, and you can pray for them too. And I guess that's one of

the things that I'm still working on that is creating a huge, humongous difference in my life

towards my friend, and especially towards my family.

Yeah, that's really good. So you know, we talk about the word unity, unity, unity. And like,

when the title came up, and I was looking through notes and trying to build up the notes and stuff,

I actually went and looked at the definition of unity. So here's something that people who

are good at math would appreciate, because this is actually a math term, you know. And the term,

it really means being as a whole. So it's something that is whole, but also something that is

in oneness and something singular. So not multiple, but singular. So unity literally means

oneness or singular. And you know, we always, well, you have been contrasting these two words,

which is unity division, unity division. So we know that division is also a math word, you know.

And that means taking something that is one and whole, and then making it into a matrix.

So the, literally the opposite of unity is something that is taken, which is meant to be one,

and then removed and made a part, which is incomplete. I think that that is such an

important picture to look at. Because when we are talking about complete unity, we are talking

about complete unity. It's not like, oh, now we are coming together as many different parts,

trying to make it work. There was an initial design for us to all be together as one. And

until we are unified, we are actually not in our place.

That is exceptional. It's so important for us to learn this. And it's important for us to learn

this. And it's important for us to see. Because what happens when the temptation to divide comes

in? There is this emotional driver, right? I am right, you are wrong. I am going to pull away,

because I don't like this tension, I don't like this connection point. And what you just said is

so powerful. When we divide, we take from what is whole and singular, and we remove pieces into

a place of incompletion. To put that in maybe a less existential way, my answer is in you.

If I am looking for, Lord, I need help, I need a solution, I need direction. He says, okay,

Matt, all of those things are going to come from me to you through the relationships I have called

you into. And that is the story of the New Testament.

That is so good. I want to read this passage of Scripture, going back to talking about unity as

a commandment. Unity as a commandment, unity as a commitment. I really like that.

Let's look at Mark chapter 12, starting in verse 28.

Mark 12 · chapter mention

So this is an exchange between a teacher of the law or a scribe and Jesus. Verse 28 says this,

one of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating, noticing that Jesus had given them

a good answer. He asked him, of all the commandments, which is the most important?

Verse 29, Jesus answers, the most important one, answered Jesus, is this, here, O Israel, the Lord,

our God, the Lord is one. I like that. Unity, one, you know? Verse 30, love the Lord your God

with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Verse 31, the second is this. I like that. And then in the New King James, it says, and the second

like it is this. So on the same line, in the same vein, with the same importance, it is this,

you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other God than Jesus.

With the same importance, it is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other

commandment greater than these. I like how there are two commandments yet they are unified.

They are in unity. This commandment is one commandment, but it contains different parts.

And right here in verse 30, it is talking about our love for God and our unity with God. So we are

to unify all our being. So our heart, our soul, our mind, our strength, we are to unify those

those parts of who we are with God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul,

all your mind, and all your strength. And the second part is love for others. And love for others

brings the unity that God designed in us to the world. So it is not only our love manifesting

towards God, but the second commandment like it, as important as it, is the love of God working in us

towards others. So we see that there is a plan of God and His commandment that we be in perfect

or complete unity with Him, but we also be in complete unity with others around us.

Yeah, and that what you're saying, those two commandments are one, that we see prayed out

in Ephesians, in the Ephesians chapter 3 prayer, where Paul prays for the church. He said,

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

For this cause I bow my knee unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family

in heaven and earth is named one. One. And he says, I want you to experience, which is where

we get the value for love, love grow go for Go Church, I want you to experience the un, the unsurpassed,

or the surpassing, the unknowable love of Christ. But then he says, you're going to do that together

with all of the church. So loving God and experience the love of God is not separate from

loving people. And that's the revelation that John carried. Yeah, like into his 90s. He said,

you can't love God who you have not seen. Yep. And not love people who you do see.

One is not separate from the other. This is, this is going to be a great study, and it's going to

help us grow. And Christelle, you said something that the Lord shared with you, I think is very

powerful. And it is John 13 35. And that is through this expression of the complete unity

that we find in Christ is how the whole world will know that we're his disciples.

Yeah. So let's actually read our key scripture for the month. And just like we see in John 13,

34 and 35, like Pastor Matt was just talking about. Similarly, this is Jesus praying to his

father and talking about the next step for all those who believe in him. I love John 17. Yeah,

it is so good. If you've ever wanted to just like, I mean, if you get to pray with someone,

you can really get to know them. And to read John 17 is to like sit in the room with Jesus

while he's praying just before he goes to the cross. I love John 17, the whole, the whole chap.

Don't let me read it because I'll... But verse 23 is so, there's so much, it's so rich.

But I don't want to start in verse 23, I want to start in verse 20.

I want to start in verse one.

John chapter one, I'm joking, I'm joking. So in the beginning, John chapter 17 verse 20,

John 17:20

I do not pray for these alone. So this is Jesus praying. You know, he prayed to his father about

himself, and then he goes on to pray to his father about the disciples that he had in the world with

him. And then he goes on to say this, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will

believe in me through their words. So that is, that is Pastor Matt, that is Christel, that is me,

that is you. That's Jesus praying for me. That's Jesus praying for me.

That's Jesus praying for me and for you. That they may, that they all may be one as you, Father,

are in me and I in you. That they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.

Verse 22, in the glory which you gave me, I have given them that they may be one just as we are one.

Verse 23, I in them and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know

that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Glory to God. So where do we start?

I mean, all through, all through that, you hear it again and again, Jesus is saying that they may be

one, one, one, that who may be? The many. How many? All those who believe. What would happen?

That they be one. How can that be? Through glory and love, which are from him. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. The many, through faith, experience the unconditional love of God and become one.

And then we as the church have a commandment to carry that forward. And when the temptation

to divide comes up, we just say, no, I've made a commitment. And the commitment is based on the

fact that the father loves me just as he loves Jesus. And if he did that for me, I will do that

for you. That's right. This is going to be a great, great study. Oh, it's going to be awesome. And

based on that, so based on what we just read in Mark chapter 12 verses 28 through to 30,

Mark 12:28

and what we just read here in John chapter 17, we're going to break this down over the month in

John 17 · chapter mention

these key points. So each week, so we have three weeks of girl groups this month. Each week,

we're going to talk about this. So the first week, we're going to talk about our unity with

God the father. And in week two, we're going to talk about, or we're going to emphasize,

we're going to focus on our unity with one another, what it looks like, you know, what it's

supposed to look like and how we can grow in that. And week three, it just keeps getting better and

better and better because we're building this picture up of complete unity because, you know,

this is a high thought, but I cut myself off, but this is the high thought, but that my unity is

not complete unity. If it's just unity with the father, that's right. One another. That's right.

Like it's only it's so that is unity. That's why I really love this title. That is unity,

but complete unity is when I have oneness with the father and oneness with one another,

with brothers and sisters. So in incomplete unity, we're going to, we're going to talk in week three

about how complete unity brings results. I love that. And so we're looking forward to,

we got to get through week one and two first, and it's going to be fun. It's going to be a lot of

fun, but I do, I do want you, I do want you to think through this, that, that we want to apply

how we handle ourselves and grow groups and how we, how we model grow groups, how we grow in grow

groups and how we walk through our values in this series. Like I want us to really look at that

from this perspective. So we see that there is care in love, you know, care in the fact that we

love God and then we love one another because that is a commandment, but then unity also leads us to,

to more than that, unity leads us to activating one another and being accountable to one another

and being accountable to one another and wanting to communicate with one another. So I really invite

you to think through the values of grow groups in this series. Yeah, that's good. Christelle,

I'm glad that you, you shared this message with us and you know, this wasn't something that happened

in a day and a half. You know, we spent some time working together on this, but I know this is going

to be a great study and I'm looking forward to it. And I'm really glad that you joined us today

on the podcast. And if you've made it this far in your day and haven't heard it yet,

I want you to know that we love you and we're praying for you. Bless you.

Thank you for listening to this message. We want everyone to experience the unconditional love of

God, growing His love and go with His love to the rest of their world. We invite you to connect with

us at one of our groups for our next gathering. And if no one told you yet today, we love you

and believe God's very best for you.