Better Unity

Well, guys, happy Father's Day. How we doing? Are you guys excited to be in your father's house on Father's Day? I can't think of a better place to be.

So today, the sermon that has been laid on my heart has been stirring for about three or four years now. And I want to give you kind of the backstory of this. So about three or four years ago, while we were still living in Tennessee, by the way, Andrew, there is no cat. I was just kid, so. So three or four years ago, while we were living in Tennessee, we were coming down here visiting, and I called up pastor Andrew.

And this is before we became close friends. And I said, let's go meet at cracker Barrel for lunch. So we go to cracker Barrel. And there was just something stirring inside of me. That, man, there's so much division within the church today.

What can we do together to get the leaders of these houses in this community in a building together, lay aside our differences and just pray for the one thing that matters, and that's Christ crucified, that people would hear the gospel and receive it. And today's sermon is going to be about that. Over the last three or four weeks, I've gotten a chance to preach this sermon to our better men. I preached it to your kids in kids church. I've taught it to some of the middle school kids, and I taught it to our young men's group.

And so we should have all the kinks ironed out here, Lord willing. But today's sermon is titled Better Unity, and I think it's something we all need. So before we get started, let's just go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I thank you so much for this day. God, just all your blessings.

God, thank you for the good news of the gospel, God, the power that's in it. God, I just pray that today, God, you would just open our hearts, our ears to hear from you. Father, I pray that this message will be well received and applied. And God, I just pray that you get me out of the Way. So Father God, I pray that your words be spoken.

And God just give us wisdom and knowledge and understanding of what you're trying to do here today. And ultimately God, just let us leave out of here united as the bride of Christ. So we love you Lord, and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen. So let's talk about division first.

Would you guys agree that the world's probably more divided today than it's ever been? No matter where you look, it forces you to choose a side on something. I'm not a politics guy. Politics is the root of a lot of it here in America. It's a terrible system.

But let's go down to a smaller level. What about within the home? Do you think division is running rampant in the home? Do you guys know that the divorce rates within the church almost mirror those outside of it? Let's go down another step.

What about the division within you? What about that constant battle between flesh and spirit, the battle of your mind? Can everyone relate to that? That warfare goes on in your mind? Well, guys, this.

This is nothing new. The enemy has been trying to divide us from the beginning. From the fall of Adam and Eve. He was trying to convince Adam and Eve that they were sent to earth and God was not coming with them. That's a lie of the enemy I preached last Father's Day.

And the message of that, or the title of that message was was God is with us. And he's still with you today and he's not going nowhere. So I want to tell you how the enemy uses division as a tactic. The first thing you need to understand is, guys, there's an enemy out there who hates you. He is not for you.

If he seduces you, it is for your destruction, not for your glory. He is trying to destroy the body of Christ and he's trying to destroy you on an individual level. He will isolate you. He will get you in your shame. He will make you feel less than he will make you feel as though you are not worthy to go before the father.

Guys, those are lies. He is the father of lies in our homes. He's trying to divide the marriage. He's trying to divide kids. He hates the marriage because of what it represents.

You guys realize that your marriage is more than just you and your wife or your husband and your kids trying to make it through the week every week. It's got cosmic power to is a representative to the rest of the world about the bride and bridegroom relationship between Christ and his children. Church and if God values marriage, we should value marriage too. The next thing that he's done, and I think this is going to hit home a little more. Think of the denominational divide that's happened over the last 200 years.

You guys realize that. And I'm not attacking any denomination. I want to say this though. I can't find anywhere in the Bible where denominations are present. And I hope to God that heaven's not divided up into denominations.

Some of them will be boring. I'm just kidding. Probably shouldn't make those jokes. But it's alright. It's Father's Day.

But you guys realize that there's people in certain denominations that would not sit in the room with any of us.

All undoubtedly the name of Jesus, but they won't even acknowledge you as believers. Guys, that's a big deal. That is not the design of the church. The enemy knows what God's people can do when they're together and their eyes are fixated on Jesus.

But ultimately the heart behind the enemy's plans is. I think he's trying to stop a prayer that Jesus prayed for you and I. And if you guys want to pull it up on the screen, it's John 17:2023. It says, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word 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 and the glory which you gave me, I have given them. That they may be made one, just as we are one, I in them and you and me. And this is the part we're going to preach on today. That they may be made perfect, perfect in one. And that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

Do you guys realize that God loves us with the same powerful and amount of love that he loved Jesus? When you hear that, that should be the best news you've ever heard. That you have. The Father of creation, the power of all the cosmos. He sees you as one of his kids.

One of the things. And me and my wife were talking about this last night. One of the things that's changed in my life with that revelation is that when my problems arise and I'm not immune to them, I have a ton of problems and issues like anybody else does. But my mindset has changed. And here's what I mean by that.

When you've stood in the presence of God and you've witnessed his glory rather than Approaching your problems as, oh, me, how am I going to get through this? You've got to approach him with unlimited resources from the throne of God dwells within me.

Guys, he's for you. He loves you. So to break down that part that they may be made perfect in one. This is the first time I've ever done this. And me and Andrew sat for a long or for some time and discussed this.

But I'm actually about to break this down in Greek. So it was between Greek or Chinese and I chose Greek.

So the way it's pronounced is Amy or that they may be perfect in uni. The way that's pronounced is Amy Teleios EF Heis. Y' all want to try that together? Amy Teleios F. Hays.

So broken down word from word, they may be made is Aini, not your cousin. Amy. Amy. Guys, that word means we are to exist or to be present. Ego.

I me is the famous I am or I exist. We are to exist. Next part perfect is translation. Teleios to mature, to accomplish, to complete, or to be made whole. Rather than perfection as we understand it, teleos is about being whole, reaching spiritual maturity, fulfilling a purpose, or reaching a goal.

It can also be known or be translated as the consummation of a relationship as it's to be transformed into purpose, the reaching, the endpoint, and then finally heis. It means singularly one, universally one thing as opposed to many, and a unique state of harmony.

So I prayed. Lord, how can I summarize this?

And what I came up was this. Jesus prayed that we would exist in a mature, purposeful, whole state of unity so that the world would know that he was sent by the Father and that the Father has loved us.

So this is a prayer from Christ. We've all prayed and some of our prayers have not been answered. There's not one instance in the Bible where Jesus prayed and his prayers were not answered. I believe in this generation we will see this.

And that's the question I have for you. What is your desire? What does your heart long after? Is it to see Christ? Is it to function how he would have you function from an individual level, from your marriage with each other?

What is your heart's desire? Because here's the thing. I don't think you will become whole until you want to be.

So I want to apply that statement of existing in a mature, purposeful, whole state of unity into three things. The first thing I want to do is I want to apply it to our individual life. We'll start here in the heart. So I want to give you an example that I've experienced. So before I got saved, I was not good.

Okay? Like all of you were. Some of you worse than others. Chad Ray, do you ever get a platform up here? Taking a jab at Chad Ray?

It's mandatory.

But one thing that the enemy had convinced me of was my shame, that I was not worthy. And when you get in that state of mind, you get isolated. He gets you in your thoughts. He makes you convince yourself that you have lost all value on this earth. Can anybody here relate to that?

Gosh, those are lies. He isolated me. That's what he does, guys. He separates you from the flock.

But then I got saved. And when I got saved, all my problems didn't go away. My mindset changed. I all of a sudden had a hope and a future.

But it's not an immediate thing. It's a process of becoming whole. So rather than walking down a road, road towards destruction and hell, I repented, changed directions and started walking down a path towards becoming whole.

But when salvation came, there was also a different kind of division. And what I mean by that is, is that when you are saved, Holy Spirit will come and dwell within you. But there's also another voice in there called your flesh. And them two jokers are. I say jokers.

The flesh is joker. Spears, not sorry. They're at war with each other. Their motives are contrary to one another. One is trying to get you to live for the passions of this world.

Guys, I've had the passions of this world, and I've had Jesus, and it's a clear choice. And for those of you that are saved but are still dabbling in the passions of this world, give it up, guys. What you get in return is the kingdom.

But that battle between your flesh and your spirit, does it make you crazy? Sometimes you feel as though. And Paul describes it. Why do I do the things I wish not to do? You have this war going on within you, and it really does.

It feels like a war. But let me tell you this. Not so much early on in my Christian walk, but over the last few years, I've learned how to combat that. I've learned how to ease the mind to get the peace. He's the prince of peace, and he wants you to have it.

It's not something he's dangling in front of your face. It's there.

But the one way I have learned to combat the battle of my mind is every single day I live a lifestyle of surrender. Lord, I cannot do this on my Own, you are far greater than I am. So let's let your will be done today instead of mine.

And when you live that lifestyle, here's something I want you to understand right now. If you are a Christian, exactly where you sit. If you are saved, you are righteous. You are perfectly righteous through faith in Christ Jesus. There's two kinds of righteousness.

There's your righteousness and there's his righteousness. One is perfect, one is as filthy rags. So I want you guys to understand right now, wherever you sit, if Jesus is your Lord, you are in right standing with God. Live your life that way. You will have peace by God's grace.

We are in a process of drowning out a fleshly voice and developing an eternal one.

We are becoming one with him, as one with him, being Jesus as he is with his Father. This is the purpose of wholeness within us individually. So point number one, and there's three points. Surrender to Jesus and he will make you whole. Whole.

There's a song that they sung on Wednesday. It's my favorite song. It's called the Blood. They ask the simple question, do you want to be whole? Are you tired of lacking you tired of going through the motions or feeling like you are less than I was?

And I'm not going back to that. So the second thing I want to apply to too, is the application to the home. So, guys, like I said, your marriage is important. It represents something far greater than you understand. Your family is also important.

There's generations being birthed through you.

So the way the enemy really attacks our home, and I think we can all agree to this, he distracts us. Who here has an iPhone? Would you agree that's the greatest distraction of our lifetime? Guys, I think an iPhone is awesome, and I Love watching Pat McAfee show on YouTube as much as anybody. But, guys, again, I had this talk with my wife last night, too.

Social media is a fake aid. You only see people's best day. Nobody, nobody's posting about the stuff they're struggling with.

So when you look at that stuff and you start comparing your life or your wife or your family to what these people are posting, guys, you're never going to measure up. You're always going to feel less than.

Let me tell you how God sees you. This is how you define yourself and where you find your value. You are mesmerizing to the merchant. That means he moved heaven and earth for you. He loves you.

This stuff that you see, don't get caught up in it. Guys, I really do not like social Media. I'm sorry, I could preach a whole sermon on that. So another thing that he uses is he makes us selfish.

And what I mean by that is. And I'm going to talk to the fathers here. Guys, when you get married, when you have kids, your life is not about you anymore. It's about her and them babies. And what's happened is across the world, you have these fathers that are living in the ways of the flesh, but they want none of the responsibility.

So the great pandemic of our day is not Covid, it's the fatherless home.

Guys, as fathers, it's Father's Day. If you want to be good at what you're called to do, let me tell you where it starts. You got to learn how to serve. Their needs are greater than your own.

I struggle with this, guys. I think all men do. I can be rash with my kids. I can not show attention to my wife. And when you say that stuff out loud, man, it cuts you deep.

But I want to challenge all you fathers, man. If you value your marriage, marriage, you value your home. Starting today, man, make your whole life about serving them.

Wayne Jones has said, fight for it. Fathers and husbands, are you willing to fight for your marriage? Or is it tossed to and from like the waves of the sea? If it's valuable to Jesus, it should be valuable to us. The Bible says that if you are in him, you should walk in the manner in which he walked.

Man, I'm challenging you. It's time to start walking in the way Jesus walked.

I believe that we can find unity in our homes. I think it's a choice. And let me tell you where it starts. First off, husbands and wives, you gotta make a decision that the most important thing to you together is your pursuit of Christ. Think of it this way.

If my head is the Lord, this is the husband, this is the wife. They don't seem that close together as they pursue the Lord, though. What happens, you come together with Christ for your homes. Is unity not the goal? Like I tell you what's not the goal for my house is to make my wife mad.

Her chew me out in front of everybody. Happens more than you think it would.

I give her a hard time, guys. She's a great mom, a great wife, and she just drew the short straw, man. She drew somebody that never runs out of energy and always wants the goofball. So just want to honor you, Carmen.

But we also, as families, we've got to stand for Christ and against the things that he's against. And what I mean by that is what are you letting into your home? What's your influence? What are your kids watching?

Do you spend more time with your kids than they spend with their iPad? I say this, and I don't mean to offend anybody. I should not be teaching your kids in kids church more than you are.

It is not up to Pastor Andrew, Pastor Justin, any of the youth or the kids church leaders. It is not our job to be the primary source of your kid getting Jesus. We have them for an hour and a half a week.

Their iPads have them for about 20 hours a week.

It's by the grace of God that our kids are as good as they are not taking. Our kids are special, guys. I have a heart for those kiddos. Your kids know a lot about the word. Elisha quotes circles around me and it makes me mad.

But I don't do nothing because of who his dad is.

Also, are you willing to stand up and say, ask for me and my house? Look at Joshua 24:15 says, and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the God which your father served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, let's all say it together. But as for me, Let's do it again. You repeat after me.

I'll be a little more uniform this time. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

It's not just words on the page, guys. It is a heart posture.

Point number two, choose unity in your home. Future generations depend on it.

I'm a generational thinker. I'll tell you guys, the biggest dream of my life is on my 100th birthday to hold my hundredth descendant. And what would make that even better is if all of them knew the Lord. Guys, what you're doing right now with your kiddos, it matters. There will be generations that stem from what you're doing now.

So choose unity, guys. And this is the part I'm most excited to preach on. So let's apply this to the body. I want everybody to take a look around this room. Just take a second look around.

Because there are different personalities. There's different giftings, there's different agendas, there's different anointings, callings and testimonies represented in this room.

We are all different. But our difference, our differences are strengths. They're not meant to divide us, but they're meant to strengthen us. First Corinthians 12. And we're going to do verses 12 and 13, and then 25 and 26, it says, for just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ.

For in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. Jews are Greeks, slaves are free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. Then Fast forward to 25 and 26. That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together.

If one member is honored, all rejoice together.

What I get from that scripture is that in order for the body of Christ to function as it is intended to function, we are not to be divided.

There are different gifts and strengths, guys, but there's one spirit, there is one focus, and that's Jesus Christ.

A plague that's also hit the church is individualism. And what I mean by that is when you walk in this door or any church, all of a sudden you're just worried about what the church experience means to you. Guys. We do not come into this building and worship you.

This is God's house, and we are God's people. So when we lift up a song or we join together, there is one focus, his glory.

I want to say this, and I've heard this from multiple people, maybe not in this church, but you may know somebody who thinks this way. Oh, I don't go to this church because I don't like to worship. I don't go to this church because the preacher isn't exactly speaking to me.

We are not here, here to sing songs to you.

We are not here to tickle your ears.

And if this word ever offends you, that's a good thing. It's meant to. It's meant to sting if you're not in alignment with it.

So when you come in here on Sunday mornings, just realize, man, there's one agenda, and it's about Jesus.

Here's something that cuts me deep, and I mentioned it a little bit earlier, is the denominational differences. Here's what I want to say about that. There are very, very minuscule things that truly divide us into denominations. And you know what? We focus on those minuscule things when in reality we should focus on the one thing that joins us all, and that's Christ crucified.

So go to your Pentecostal, Methodist, Baptist friends, whoever it may be, and you say, you know what, man? I love you. How can we work together? The world's waiting on us. Guys, another thing he does amongst the body.

And now that I'm getting more and more involved with our church, when I talk to other people about our church, you know what we're known as now, Y', all that big church, y', all that big white church down there. Y' all right down there next to us. Yes, we are. And you know what that's done to some people? It's made them bitter when I talk to them, like the social media thing, they're in the comparison game.

Look, man, God has blessed this building. He has blessed Pastor Andrew and Amanda and Pastor Reed. He's got his hand all over this ministry. And I'm thankful that we have a room that's big enough to hold what we have and we're going to keep growing into it. But guys, the little church down the road is not our competition.

We are not better than them and they are not less than us.

And then finally, the way he's dividing and hurting the church, the enemy that is. He's using comparison again. But he makes us focus on others giftings compared to our own.

Let's use an example. We'll make it personal. Pastor Andrew clearly has an anointing to speak and preach the gospel. It is evident. Would you guys agree if me, if I were to look at Andrew and I were to start thinking, I'll never speak like that.

I'll never have that gifting. I'll never have. I'll never be able to do what Andrew does. Do you think that's going to ultimately make me bitter towards Andrew?

Guys, we all have unique giftings, but it's not about us. It's meant to further this kingdom that we call our home. So don't get caught up in other people's gifts. Gifts work on developing and strengthening the ones that you've been given. If you guys want to know a gift that God has made evident in me, it's the gift of joy.

I wake up every morning so excited. Drives my wife crazy. I have to get up and I go and I try to make as least amount of noise as I can. I can't help it. Guys go through the house singing, dancing.

It's just. He's made it evident in my life and he's also taking that joy and giving me a great sense of humor. And I have a one liner for everything. Ask Ms. Carol. But here's the thing, guys.

I am glad that I have that, but it's really only doing me any good if I'm using it for the kingdom of God. So what I try to do is I try to make people laugh all the time and it don't work all the time, But I'd say 100% of the time it works 60% of the time. But you all have gifts. Like, my wife is a nurturer. She loves our kiddos.

I personally, at times, don't care for them, especially my son. And if you know my son, he is a turd with a capital T. I'm glad that his little face made it on that video. He's the one that will walk around and say, you can't see me. We're big wrestling fans. But, guys, your gifts are important and they are needed.

We try to sign up and serve as much as we can. I want to encourage you all, if you're not serving here, come to connect. Find out your giftings and how they can be used to further our kingdom or further his kingdom. We need you guys. So point number three, and this is what we all must agree to do together.

We've got to fixate our eyes on Christ as his bride. You are the bride of Christ. And Amanda, if you want to come, I asked her earlier and I asked her every time. I said, will you please close this out with Free Bird by Leonard Skynyrd? You won't believe it.

It was. No, But let's talk about that bridal identity.

What does that mean?

You guys know the whole purpose of Jesus walking on this earth, going to the cross, dying, being resurrected. It was for you and I. He loves you that much. And you know what he's doing now? He's preparing a wedding that we're invited to.

So what does it look like? If we were to function as the bride of Christ as it's meant to be, I'll tell you one thing we would do. We would love people where they're at. Guys, there's a lot of broken people in this building and in this community. A lot of broken people.

I challenge you to go seek those people out and love on them. If his love can change you, it can change them, too.

If we were acting as the bride, I guarantee we'd be a lot more obedient to his word.

Jesus says the evidence of us loving him is obeying him. This right here has to become important to you. This is the ultimate authority. Guys, this will point you to Jesus. And Pastor Reed says it will also be a mirror to you.

It will show you where you need to correct yourself. The whole theme of Acts and Beyond is correction. We have to read it and apply it. Another thing we would do better man, we would serve others, we would meet them needs. There would be no fatherless homes because we have spiritual fathers everywhere.

There would be no widow going without. And I think there's something good brewing in this church about that ministry. I'm excited about it because Christ showed us the way to leadership is a servant's heart.

Can you serve a others? Can you put their needs above your own? Another thing that we would do as the bride is we would worship in all that we do. And what I mean by that is the three or four songs that we play, that is a form of worship, but it's not the only form.

Andrew says it, I believe this, guys, you're giving in. Generosity is worship and God will bless that 10% and he will do more with it than you could ever do with a hundred percent.

Another form of worship is how we treat each other.

If one thing that I shut down at all times is a negative or pessimistic, you being positive and upbeat and encouraging is a form of worship. And if the Lord inhabits the praises of his people, don't let the enemy inhabit your criticism.

I think we would do a lot better job spreading the gospel if we said, don't you? My husband is Jesus Christ. Let me tell you what he did for me and he can do it for you.

There's people in this room. If we were to challenge you to go up to somebody and just tell them you love them and this is what Jesus has done, you'd never come back. And that's okay. Like it's okay to it being uncomfortable. It's supposed to be because this message, the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is life changing.

It is eternal. And all those people out there that are hurting are waiting for a sign. And I believe it's some of you.

And then finally it says bride. One thing I think we would do better would be our pursuit of him.

Nothing else should matter.

The bride of Christ in his state right now is in the process of, of becoming whole. It's been happening for 2000 years now.

But the purpose of the bride of Christ is for us to have a relational encounter with Jesus.

So we're going to do something a little different. And it's going to require you guys to be close to each other. I want everybody to see stand up.

If you could slide across the aisles as close as you can to each other. Everybody on that side, come here. Same over here. And man, I'm just going to use you as an example. Everybody lock arms like this or hold hands, whatever, just be touching Somebody.

The bride of Christ is not one person, but it's a people.

I want you to. Guys, just look around.

Think of the stories in this room. Think of what he's brought you through. Think of where he's taken you.

But you know the one thing that unites us, we are all stamped with the blood of Christ.

So I want you to imagine something. Imagine a wedding day. And I'm going to use my own example. On my wedding day, I stood at that altar. And as soon as Carmen walked in, the room just broke.

I stood at that altar and the one thing I wanted more than anything was coming to be mine.

Now, if Carmen had given herself to anything and everything and was divided and was not going to be fully mine, I don't know if I would have went forward with that wedding.

There is a wedding date that we are invited to, but I don't think we'll get there without being whole, both within our hearts and as a people.

Don't you want to see him?

Search your heart. Seeing him, seeing his face.

When that wedding day comes, remember these faces.

They're going to be there, too, man.

So I've got a statement if you're comfortable with. I would like for us to declare as remnant church. You guys okay with that?

So just repeat after me, Lord, here we are, the body and bride of Christ.

We are striving for perfect unity with each other and with you in our hearts. The enemy will not divide us because nothing can snatch us from your hand.

I belong here because you said so. Help us, Lord, to focus on you. Help us stand for your kingdom and stand against what divides us. Help us love others the way you love us. We love you, Lord, and thank you for making us whole.

So we're getting ready to give an altar call. But here's what I want to say about that statement. The entire world is waiting God's people to live that out loud. They're waiting to see something that is so uniquely different from the world at hand.

And I believe, guys, this is the start of you seeing mass unity across the body of Christ.

So you guys can spread out, or if you want to stay close, you can. But if everybody would just bow your head and close your eyes.

So the first invitation I would like to give. Give is if you're in this room and you don't know Jesus and there's been seeds planted and people come across your path pointing you towards him, but you've never fully surrendered. I want to encourage you. The end of you is the beginning of the him.

So if you would say Eli, I've heard the name. I know the story. But I've not given my life to him. If that's you, would you raise your hand?

I see him. Thank you. And this is the only other question I'm going to ask.

If you're a believer and you've been walking this walk for a long time and you still feel as though something is missing and you feel as though you're not whole, whether that be within you individually, whether that be in the home, the marriage, or whether that be broken relationships with other people, I want to encourage you guys and let you know that he is in the business of making things whole. But if that's you right now and you just say, I need prayer to become whole, or for my marriage or for forgiveness, if that's you, just throw up your hand.

I see him.

So they're getting ready to sing. And I'm going to pray for us as a whole. You guys can look up at me.

You belong at that wedding. Guys, he's already paid your admission.

And I think that there's a grace, a grace in the this room today where he wants you to feel whole. This altar, I know that some people look at it and they're fearful to get out and walk, and that's okay.

There's too many testimonies at this altar for me not to encourage you to come.

So if you need prayer or you raise your hand, we want to pray with you. We want to believe with you. And we believe you'll go out of here different than you came in.

So let's pray.

Father. God, thank you for this day and on Father's Day. We honor you and God, we thank you for your son Jesus and the wedding that is to come.

God, I thank you for those here today that you've given me an audience with God. I pray that the words that you gave me, God, is touching hearts and ultimately God. I just pray that this body would have a heart towards you. And Lord, if there's anybody here that doesn't know you, could. I pray that your great love would draw them.

Father, if there's anybody here that's lacking, I pray that they would call upon the unlimited resources of heaven.

Thank God. I pray that from this day forward there be no more division here in this body or anybody.

God, we want to see your face.

Lord, let that be our heart's desire is to see Jesus.

Because, God, you are good.

And we thank you, Father, for your great love for us in Jesus name.