One NEW Man

Well, good morning. I'm excited today. We've got a brand new message today. We're in a series.

If you've been here the last few weeks, we started a series at the beginning of the year called 23. And we. Now, if you're familiar with the ancestry.com and the company 23andMe, it's a company that you can use, that you can send them a little spit. And they'll look at your gene pool.

And they'll tell you if you came from an orangutan, or a tadp- no, I don't know if that. But they can tell you, you're a little bit about your ancestry. They'll tell you about your family dynamics. They'll tell you about if you're susceptible to certain diseases or not.

Or what ethnicity is maybe in your background that you didn't know about. But every one of us has a different ancestry. Every one of us has a different origin, an ethnicity, in the natural realm. But not so in the spiritual realm.

See, in the spiritual realm, and it's called 23andMe, I have to say this, because you have 23 sets of chromosomes. They kind of define who you are. They tell all about you. One said, even says if you're a male or female.

So God put this spiral of 23 chromosomes in every cell, just to really define who you are. So what we're looking at with 23andMe, it's not me, because we have the same DNA. We have the exact same DNA that when you accept Jesus as your Savior, the old you dies, and you get a brand new you. And the brand new you is just like Jesus.

And that your DNA and my DNA, we share the same DNA. And that's the DNA of Jesus himself. And so what we're looking at over these last few weeks, we started three weeks ago. I had a message called the New Covenant.

And really, that's where everything starts, is in the New Covenant. And then, Seth brought a message called a new commandment, which talks about our new commandment is to love. And then lastly, Phil brought a message from Revelation called a new name. And that when we'll get a white stone, and he really talked about that and did a real good job.

And with that white stone, we get a brand new name. Hey, I love kids. God bless that baby today. In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, go to sleep.

So we're going to look at another new today called One New Man. One New Man. So when we talk about becoming a new creation, we're not all different new creations. Paul hones this in in Ephesians chapter 2, which is going to be our text today, when he talks about one new man.

And in context, he's talking about bringing the Jew and the Gentile from two distinct bodies now into one. But really, the implications and ideas are just more than just the Jew and the Gentile. And we'll look at some other different verses that Paul writes and some other churches to make those points. So our springboard verse, we're talking about this word new.

It really comes out of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. It says, therefore, verse 17 says, therefore, if any man, any woman, if anyone be in Christ, he is the what? New creature, new creation. Old things are passed away, they're gone.

Behold, all things are become new. And then in verse 18, it says, all things are of God. And so the new part of you, when it says, all things are new, all things are made new, once we get a new DNA, once we've been made a new creation, I no longer look at you the way I used to look at you. That I don't look at you after the flesh.

I look at you now after the spirit man. I look at you how you are in Christ. And Paul said, there was a time when we used to see Christ face to face in the flesh, but no longer. We don't do that anymore because he's gone.

So how do I see Jesus now? I see Jesus in the Word, and I see Jesus through his Holy Spirit giving me revelation about the Word. And so that's how he wants us to see each other. And so really, in this series is, I not only want you to see you in Christ, I want you to see me in Christ.

I want you to see her in Christ. I want you to see him in Christ. Not just as long as we get wrapped up. I need to see me in Christ.

That's important. You need to see yourself the way God sees you. But you need to see everybody else the way God sees them too. And so we're going to look at three things today.

So our main text is going to be Ephesians chapter 2, verses 13 through 22. And I'll read those. But really, before we read that text, I want to read Ephesians 2 11 and 12. Because 2, 11, and 12, sometimes you need to know where you've been to know where you're at.

So people say, well, don't look back. Well, sometimes if I don't look back, I don't realize how far I've come. And so Paul takes a little diversion here, and he starts at Ephesians 2 out. He talks about that.

We were dead, that we were made alive in Christ, that we were raised with Christ, that we were seated with Christ in heavenly places, that by grace we were saved. So he does that. And then he goes backwards a little bit. And in verse 11, he talks about what we were like without Christ.

And he goes back and he just spends two verses. So we're going to do that. And then we're going to read verses 13 through 22. And there's three things I want to look at today about the one new man.

So when we become one, what do we think about? That it's unity, that it's family. That word one means singularity. It means one at the exclusion of all others.

It means that we're the same. And so Paul really drives this one new man home. And so when we realize that we've been made one new man, certain things go away. And so the first thing that goes away, we're going to talk about distance is eliminated in Jesus Christ.

Distance goes away. Differences are eliminated in Jesus Christ. And disconnection. So distance, there was literally a physical distance between Jews and Gentiles.

There was distance between us and God. In Jesus, the distance is eliminated. There's differences. We all have different histories.

We all have different ethnicities. We don't share the same history, but we share the same present, and we share the same future. And Jesus says, all the differences in Christ eliminated. And then he goes on to say that disconnection.

You're like, OK, well, where do I fit in? What's God's plan for me? He's got a plan for you. There's no disconnected Christian in the body of Christ, unless you want to be.

Because Jesus has a place to plug you in. He doesn't just have a place. It's just not some random thing. He literally strategically puts you in the place that he can see the most benefit for the entire body and uses you that way.

So we're going to look at those three things today. But let's start in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11. And then we'll just go on from there and see how things go. All right, Ephesians 2, 11, and 12, it says, therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that, which is called the circumcision.

So anytime you see Paul saying circumcised versus not circumcised, he's talking about Jew, circumcised, Gentile uncircumcised. He says that you were called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision made with flesh by the hands. At that time, so he's talking about your BC life before Christ, before I became a new creation. He says, at that time, you were without Christ.

You were separated from Christ. You were apart from Christ. You had no connection with Jesus. He said, you were aliens.

Look at your neighbor and say, were you an alien? You an alien? He said, you were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. So that just means this.

It means you were alienated. You were separated. You were alienated from the rights of the Jewish people. So if you were Jewish by birth, you had certain rights.

And he says that you were without Christ. You were alienated from the commonwealth, from the rights of a Jewish citizen, that you were strangers. That might be your neighbor too. He says, you were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world.

And that could be some of you today. You might be apart from Christ. And if you're apart from Christ, it's dismal. You might be in the world, but it says, you're without God and without hope.

The only, I typically say there's no hopeless situation because I believe that because Jesus in an instant can fix it. There is one hopeless situation. When you choose to live without God. And he says that if you are apart from Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world.

He says, I want you to remember that. Because that's what you were. You remember what Phil said about the word butt last week? He didn't say that everybody has one.

What? He didn't say summer big and summer little. He said, but when you see the word butt, it typically means that it just erases what was previously said. And that's what Paul does here.

Sometimes, but it's a conjunction where it just adds to. But sometimes it says, I love verse 13, because here's what verse 13 says, but now in Christ. You were this. You were separated.

You were alienated. You were strangers. You were without hope. You were without God.

But now in Christ, it's a different season. It's a different you. The old you isn't around anymore. He says verse 13, verse 13, he says, but now in Christ Jesus, you were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace, who has made both one and he has broken down the middle wall of separation.

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that means hostility when there's hostile relations between two people. It says he having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is the law of the commandments contained in the ordinances. So as to create, I want you to see that everything is in Christ, in him, in himself. See that says create in himself.

One new man, verse 15, from the two, thus making his peace. So this word new, I didn't really talk about it, but we've kind of talked about it the last couple of weeks. The word new here is the Greek word kai nas. So it's different than the other Greek word for new, which is naios.

So naios means new in terms of age. And then kai nas means new in terms of form or substance. So that is unprecedented, unheard of, completely brand new, as compared to what was old. It's brand new, never existed before, unheard of, novel.

Those are all the words that describe it. So think of it like this. Here's how I can differentiate it. I'm a car guy, right?

So let me give you a car example. Cara, you paying attention. Cara's a car girl. So if I had a Chevy Equinox, let's just say it's a 2017, and I say to my wife, hey, baby, I'm kind of getting to the point where I want a new Equinox, and I go buy a new 2023 Chevy Equinox.

I got a new one, but it's a new one. It's just newer in age. That's naios. I had an old Chevy Equinox, now I got a new Chevy Equinox.

But what if I said, hey, I want to get out of that 2017 Chevy Equinox, and I want to get a 2023 F-150? It's new, but it's of a new kind. It's completely different. It's a new one, but it's a new one, different one, not like the old one.

And so that's the word Paul's using here, is that your brand new, the old you that you used to be doesn't exist anymore. And so here's a few things that are because of that. He says that he made one new man out of the two, thereby making peace, that he might reconcile them both to God in one body, through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off, and those who were near.

For through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself, being the chief cornerstone. In whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Father, I just asked today, holy Spirit, that you would teach us, Lord, I pray for the truth of your word to be revealed.

God, I pray that you would make difficult things simple. Lord, that any confusion that the enemy may try to bring, that that would be eliminated in the name of Jesus. I pray for clear understanding, and Lord, I pray for that this word would get into the hearts of everybody that hears it, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, three things we wanna look at.

Let's go to the next slide. Distance, now everything, when I say it's is eliminated, all this takes place in Christ. So if distance is eliminated, it means distance is eliminated in Christ. Verses 13 and 14 say this, in Christ Jesus, you were once a far off have been brought near.

So you remember how I said when Paul talks about circumcised and uncircumcised, he's talking about Jews being circumcised, Gentiles uncircumcised. Well, there's also another term called far and near, and the Jews were considered near, Gentiles considered those who were a far off. And if you remember on the day of Pentecost, in Acts chapter two, when Peter's preaching to the crowd, they hear this noise and they're like, they come, and Peter stands up and preaches, and 3,000 people get saved, and they say, well, before they can say, they say, what do we do? He says repent and be baptized, confessing your sin in the name of the Lord, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, or you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Then he goes on the next verse and says, and this promise, speaking of the Holy Spirit, he says this promise is to you and to your children, and to those who are a far off. So he's telling them, and he says, I think as many as the Lord shall call. So he's saying to them, the day of Pentecost, he says, hey, this promise is to you, the Jews, it's to you and your children, the Jews, and to those who are a far off the Gentiles. So this is a term a lot of times you see far in the ear, it's really a distinction between Jew and Gentile.

So he says, he says, in Christ, you who were once a far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, so has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. So Paul talks here about this wall of separation. And so even between Jews and Gentiles, there's this animosity to where the Jews really look down on Gentiles. Romans looks down on Jews, there's all this racial divide at the time, and Paul even even experienced this thing called the wall of separation.

So even in the temple, you guys remember like the temple in the Old Testament? And a lot of times we talk about the holy place, and the holy of holies, we'll talk about that in a minute. But if you go all the way outside of the temple, there was a five foot wall around the temple, made of stone. And outside of that wall was called the court of the Gentiles.

That's as close, let's do it this way. Let's assume, this is the holy of holies. So Jen, you didn't know when you were playing the drums, that you were actually beating the drums, and you were playing on the ark of the covenant there. So in the holy of holies, in the innermost part of the temple is the ark of the covenant.

There's two cherubim and their wings come up over like this. And inside of the cherubim, over the ark of the covenant is where the presence of God dwells. That's where he is. Outside of that, you have what's called the holy place.

Now in here, only the high priest can go one day a year. On the day of atonement, that's it. One time a year, one guy, once a year, and he has to take blood and he's got to make sure he's right or if he doesn't he'll die. Out here, then we have the holy place.

And we have the candelabra, we've got the table of show bread, we've got the altar of incense. And in here, priests come on a regular basis daily. And so they make incense in their days. But it's just priests.

You've got to be able to try the Levi. And outside of that, right here, is what's called the court of the Levites, the court of the priest. So you can't come into this court unless you're a priest. And then a little bit, out here, is the court of the Israelites, where you've got to be a man in order to get here.

And then a little bit farther out is the court of the women. And so if you're a woman, it doesn't matter if you're Jew or not, you can't go beyond here. And then beyond that is a wall. And the rest of us can't get beyond the wall unless you're Jewish.

Because on this wall that's about five feet high, it says, beware, trespassers will be shot. Basically, that's what it says. It says if you're a Jew and you crossed over the line, you need to realize that you're going to be responsible for your own death. And they actually found this plaque that was on this wall, that didn't allow Gentiles beyond this line.

Even the Apostle Paul. And the Apostle Paul was obviously a Pharisee. He was very trained as a Pharisee. He could have got up a little ways.

But even he could only get so far. Matter of fact, in the book of Acts, I think of chapter 21, he was accused of bringing a Greek Gentile into the temple, and they were going to kill him because of it. He brought this Ephesian guy, Trophamis. And they said that Paul is desecrating the temple by bringing this Greek into the temple.

And he actually didn't, but just he accused of it. So here's this wall. And Paul says this. He says that Jesus has eliminated the wall.

He's eliminated the wall. See, if you were a Gentile, you could go so far. If you were a female, you could go so far. If you were a man, you could go so far.

If you were a priest, you could go so far. And if you were the high priest, you could get to God one day a year. All gone. It says that in Christ, that middle wall of separation.

Do you remember what happened on the day of the Jesus died? Everybody remembers the veil being torn. What else so happened? Matthew, chapter 27, verse 51 says this.

It says that he cried with the loud boys, gave up the ghost. It says the veil of the temple was rent into from top to bottom. There was an earthquake and the rocks split. Now in the next verse, right after that, in verse 52, it was going to say that the tombs were opened up, and those dead saints actually walked out of the tombs.

That was actually three days later. That was on Resurrection Day. But on the day that Jesus died, the veil of the temple was rent. And I believe not only were the rocks breaking up, but I believe some of the rocks in that wall.

But that thing was coming down. And now the imitation is this. Like you don't have to be a Gentile. You don't have to be a Jew.

You don't have to be a man. You don't have to be a woman. You don't have to be a priest. Everybody is able to come here now because of Jesus.

He says the middle wall of partition has been broken down. That Jew and Gentile male, female, like everybody has access to the Father by one spirit through Jesus Christ. Like you don't have to go through a priest. There's one mediator between God and man and Christ Jesus.

That's it. You've come from certain faiths that say, well, you've got to go through this person. You've got to go through that person. No, you've got direct access to the Father.

You've got the same access that I have. You have the same access that everybody that's ever put their faith in Jesus. You have the same access the Apostle Paul had to the Father through Jesus by one spirit. So a lot of times we feel like, I think I've ever been the kid that got picked last.

You know, they're like picking teams. They're like, I'll take Jim. And I'll take a bit. Oh, yeah.

Back and forth. Oh, God, just tell them to be last. Tell them to be the last one picked. The only time you're not the last one is when you're a new kid at a new school and they don't know how bad you are.

That's your only hope. But see, some of us feel like we're on the outside looking in. I know some of you here today feel like I've been excluded, not included. I feel like I've been ostracized, not brought close.

But here's God's word for you today is that you, in Christ Jesus, have been brought here. Like you can't get any closer to God than Jesus. So it says that I have eliminated the distance. See, if you've not accepted Jesus, Paul says this.

He says, actually, he's talking. Remember the verse that says that in him, we live and move and have our being. The verse right before that said, God is near all of us. He was actually talking to the Athenian unbelievers.

If you're unsaved, God's near to you right now, but he's not in you. See, you might as well be a million miles away from God if you've not accepted Jesus. Because he's there. He's made away.

The veils rent. The rocks are busted. There is a direct way to the Father. And he's right there.

But you might as well be a million miles away. See, the word for death in the New Testament is actually separation. It says, the wages of sin is death. I mean, separation.

You are born in a state of being separated from the Father. But because of Jesus, he gives us a way to walk right in the front door. Like, you don't have to go. I didn't tell you, but in that tent, there was even a little cubicle for lepers.

The lepers court. A lot of you, your whole life, have had to sneak in the back door. Or you've had to go in a side door because of shame, because of guilt, because you don't want anybody to see you. And Jesus says this, I love you so much.

I've already made a way. I want you to come in the front door and hold your head high. Because I love you that much. He says the distance is gone.

Next, differences eliminated in Jesus. The differences are eliminated in Jesus. Verse 15 and 16 say this, to create in himself one new man that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross. All this happens through Jesus.

That he got rid of the distance. You don't have to go through any steps. You don't have to take 12 steps to the cross. It's one.

It's, yes, that's it. And then once you get there and you're in, he says, all that stuff is gone. I've taken two bodies, reconciled them to myself through the cross. That word reconciled, the reason I say difference is God.

Every bit of it. He settled every difference in your life between you and him and between you and everybody else. That the things that we typically look at mean nothing in Jesus. It says to create in himself one new man that he might reconcile them both to God through the cross.

If I've been reconciled to Jesus, what does that mean? It means that my difference is with Jesus or what? In balance. Equal.

Any math people in here? No. I can't remember what it's called. But there was a math equation that said if A equals B, I think it's called the transitive property of inequality.

If A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C. Okay. Autumn says, oh no. Okay.

All right. We got three letters, ABC, right? All right. A equals B.

A and B are equal. Okay. Give me three people. Come here.

I'm here. Here it is. Come here. All right.

This will be ABC. Everybody got this? If A equals B, these two are what? All right.

And if B equals C, B and C are then A equals C. Okay. Everybody got it. All right.

Give yourself a hand. So think of it like this. If I've been reconciled to God and I've got no difference with God, my past is gone, and Kristen's has been reconciled to God and all her differences are resettled, then guess what? We got no difference between us, right?

Because I've been reconciled, she's been reconciled, and if they're both equal, then we're equal in Christ. See, so often what we try to do is we try to look for things in the natural other than Christ to bring unity to certain groups of people. And when we try to come together and create unity of physical differences and variances that are not of Christ, we actually don't create unity in the end. We create disunity and we create division.

So we think, well, I'm going to go over here and join the vaccinated group. So I'll get all the vaccinated people over here. Well, I'm not putting that in my body. I'm going to get with the non-vaxxers over here.

You might have created unity in a small circle, but ultimately you created division. So I remember when Phil first came to me and said, I'm not getting that vaccine. I'm not placing vaccine in my vaccine, but this was kind of funny. I looked at him like he had three heads.

I'm like, what are you talking about? I don't know what I'm putting in my body. I'm like, Phil, you were snorting coke off the seat in the bathroom three years ago. And you don't care what you're putting in your body?

I was like, do that math for me. That's like if A equals Z, not that equals. Yeah. What was I talking about though?

Yeah. I'm not even going to clean the toilet seat. But I'm not getting the shot. God forbid I put something in there.

I don't know what it is. I'm sorry. I can't go backwards now. It's like, it's out there, Jerry.

I'm out there. I can't get back. All right. It says, he has, OK, so look at this in Colossians chapter one.

The same world reconciled this, this, this stronger form of the word reconciled says this. He has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ that is physical body. As a result, he's brought you into his own presence. And you are, get this, holy, blameless.

What else? Without, without fault. Without single fault. Not one.

Every single fault in your life. You might think it's a fault, but it's, it might be something you're struggling with right now. But Jesus says, I've already settled that thing. It's done.

See, what happens is we try to put adjectives in front of the word Christian. You ever done that? I'm a, I'm a, I'm a mature Christian. Oh, I'm, I'm a vaxxer Christian.

I'm a Republican Christian. Republican does not equal Christian. Democrat does not equal Christian. I'm a white Christian.

I'm a black Christian. No, none of that. When you put an adjective in front of Christ, you watered down Christ. Your adjective does not define Jesus.

Jesus defines you. You're a Christian. Hey, that's it. You are in Christ.

That's it. First and foremost, does that mean we forget about your heritage? No. God actually celebrates your heritage.

In Revelation chapter 5 verse 9, it says this, who's worthy to open the scrolls? Who's worthy to open the seals? It says you are Jesus because you have redeemed us from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, every people group on the earth. He celebrate who you are, but who you are in the natural doesn't define who you are in Christ.

Jesus defines you. That's it. And when you're in front of Jesus, you're holy. You're blameless and you're without a single fault.

Now, you're going to look at me a little different. You're going to look at me that way. That's how I want you to see me. That's how I want to see you.

I no longer regard man after the flesh. I regard him after the spirit. And God wants you to see each and every one of other believers after the spirit. Look at this.

So in context, Paul's talking about Jew and Gentile, but it goes beyond that because in other books, Paul talks about there's neither Jew nor Gentile, there's neither slave nor free, there's neither male nor female, but this it says all are one in Christ Jesus. We're not little groups of this type of Christian and this type of, well, I'm a Pentecostal Christian. Well, I'm a reformed Christian. No, you're a Christian that has some Pentecostal beliefs.

You're a Christian that does this. Well, I'm a former added Christian. No, you're not. You're a Christian.

You're in Christ. It says we're all one. We're all one because A equals B, B equals C, and therefore A, we're all equal. There's no variance, no difference, nothing that hasn't been settled on your behalf.

And we can all stand before Jesus. I don't care what your rap sheet says. Because when you stand there, you stand there like me that doesn't have a rap sheet. Well, I was a guy that never got caught.

See, there's a, I could have had a lot of things on my rap sheet. I just, God's grace kept me from it. So when we stand before Jesus, all that stuff goes away. We're one.

We're one family. We're one body. We're equal. We're all the same.

Now, sometimes people get a little off base here with equality because equality in the body doesn't mean that there's not submission and authority. So that's where people get a little, because they, you have to temper the tooth. Think of it like this. So two chapters later, chapter five, actually three chapters later, Paul talks about husband and wife relationship.

He talks about employee and employer relationship. He talks about parent and child relationship. My kid, if he's a born-again Christian, is the same as me. But the Bible still says children about your parents.

It says employers don't be mean to your employees and employees. Listen to your boss. It says wives submit to the husband. It says love your wives.

So within the body, we're all equal, but God has also put God ordered leadership and God ordered, ordered leadership in your life to help you. Think of it like this. Within the, within the, within the, the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the, the Son Jesus is equal to the Father. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, right?

Jesus is equal to the Father. The Holy Spirit is equal to Jesus. Jesus says, I will pray the Father that He give you another comforter, which means another one just like me. So you have the Father equal to the Son, equal to the Holy Spirit.

Equality in the Trinity. But Jesus submits to the will of the Father and the Holy Spirit submits to the will of Jesus. So you have equality, but you also have an order of leadership and submission and rank. So don't take one at the exclusion of the other.

I don't want to spend time there. Okay. This last verse in Colossians chapter three says this, it said, put on the new man who was renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, where there is neither Greek or Jews, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian. So here, so not only did the Jews look down on the Greeks, the Greeks looked down on everybody that wasn't a Greek.

So they actually, they had this word barbarian and the word came, the word is barbas and it's because the Greeks were so educated that they said everybody that talked it sounded like this to them, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar. So they called him barbarians. And then there was a worse rank of barbarians. It was called Scythians.

That was like the low of the low. That was like the toilet sheet, I was like that. It was like the worst of the worst. It was like the barbarians that had digressed and said, so he says this, he said, hey, there's no racial divide in Christ.

He said, there's no circumcision or uncircumcision. There's no gender divide in Christ. There's no age divide in Christ. There's no social class divide in Christ.

We're all one. We're all the same. Slaven free, but Christ is all. That phrased, I'll take you apart, not like this.

Look at this verse in the message. Next slide. It says words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free mean nothing. And now on, everyone is defined by Christ.

The verse before this in the message I love it talks about putting on the new man. It says when you put on Christ, his label is in the back of your clothes. I love that's cool. I'm putting on Jesus.

Hey, what brand you wearing? Is that polo? No, it's Jesus. Is that Louie?

No, it's Jesus. It's a step better than LV. It's Jesus. It's JC.

That's what I got on. Hey, we should start a lot of clothes. What do you think? JC, not JC Penny.

That went out of business. But hey, Jesus is the only label I ever want you to wear. I don't want you to wear labels of the past. I don't want you to wear labels that people have called you, have said about you, prophesied to them over you, cursed you, whatever.

Jesus is the only label I ever want you to wear. That's what makes us the same. Nothing more, nothing less. So he got rid of the distance, opened to anybody.

He got rid of the differences. And then the last thing is he gets rid of the disconnection. So you're like, hey, I can come in. I'm here.

I'm in. I get that we're all the same. But I'm just a stick to mud. I don't fit in.

I'm a square peg around hole. Jesus says you're a square peg in a square hole. You fit. You're a round peg around.

I guess you'd be a round peg around hole. Whatever it is. You're, you fit in. Let me just say that.

It says in whom the whole building. It's not, see, in this passage, Paul talks about us being a building. And if he's in sport, he talks about us being a body. Very similar.

But he said, look, it's not just a few pieces of the building. It's not like, oh, Fred fits here. And Kristen fits there. And all of them fits down here.

And good luck with the rest of you. Oh, find it. Find a seat. Find a brick.

Go get a brick and stick it. No. Was another brick in the wall? Pink Floyd.

I feel like Pink Floyd. Just another brick in the wall. We're going through the machine, you know? No.

God has a defined place where you actually fit in. It says this. It's not that you fit alone. Do you see this?

Where's it say you fit together so that when these bricks go together and when they were making the temple, and I've had the blessing of being in Israel and seen what's now, well, it's Herod's temple. But when they're making these, this temple, these blocks are like massive, like as big as this stage or bigger. And they're so connected and so precise. You literally can't put paper between these massive stones.

They're that exact. And if they can be that exact and the natural, how much more in the spiritual? How much more does God have the perfect place for you to fit together? That you interlock and connect to the body part next to you and the stud.

Now what's it be? The block. The block next to you. Yeah, I used to have this stud.

My wife used to have a stud finder. You ever see that as like a stud finder? It didn't work. It didn't hold here.

It didn't hold here. Like this thing works. It says the whole building. The whole building.

Here's the thing. If you're not in the place that God has fitted you, the building is not as good as it could be. I need you in the building. Jesus needs you in the building.

See, even if you're not saved, there's a place. See, this isn't like a structure that was built and done. This is a building that is ever growing. It's a building that's ever growing that Jesus and His Holy Spirit is filling.

And He has a place for you. It says in whom you also are being built together. You fit together. We go together.

We fit together. You know why we fit together? Because all those differences have been settled. See, all those rough edges have been sold off and smoothed off.

So when He puts us together, we actually fit. Paul says this in Ephesians 4, along with the same lines. He uses the same words. It says Christ from Him.

The whole body joined and knit together by whatever. Don't read into that by whatever joint supplies. It's talking about body joints. All right?

Get your mind out of the gutter. It says, by whatever joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does it share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself and love. God has placed you in the body where He sees fit. See, it says every part of the body doing its share.

I need you. You need me. You need a person on your left. You need a person on your right.

See, because I know I'm not trying to minimize it. I'm sure people have had worse than me, but I've had herniated discs in my back. Numerous times. It's been healed numerous times.

But when that one disc is out and that nerve is pinched, one thing out of place causes the rest of my body to not function the way God designed it to. The natural is always the picture of the spiritual that we can't see. And when you're out of joint in your walk or you're not fulfilling the place that God's put you, the body, us as a local body, the body globally doesn't function the way Jesus needs it to. He'll get it done without you, but how much better if you did your part?

See what happens a lot of times is there's an old saying in business that says, get the wrong people off the bus, get the right people on the bus, and then get the right people on the right seat on the bus. So in Jesus's bus, He's not kicking anybody off. He's getting everybody in. He's going to go to the door.

Anybody wants to get on the bus, can get on the bus. But once you're on the bus, He puts you in the right seat. See, but you're always there. I want to sit in the front.

I want to sit in the back. I want to sit with the window. We're always wanting somebody else's seat. Stay in your lane.

You know, Paul does say this. He says, desire earnestly the best gifts. So there's always an aspiration that I want what God has for me. But until He gives me something else to do, I'm going to be faithful in the seat that He's put me in today.

It doesn't mean once you're in a seat, you're staying at seat. It just means that you stay faithful with what God's giving you to do today until He tells you to do something else. And then you can switch seats. All right, here's the last verse, 1 Corinthians 12 and 18 in the Amplified.

It says, now as things really are, God has placed and arranged the parts in the body, each one of them just as He willed and self-fit with the best balance of function. And then cool. You know, the God actually, it's like we think we know best, but whose body is it? Ours or his?

Right? My body, my choice. Well, that's what God says. That came from God.

Do you know that? It's his body. It's his choice. He says that I'm not out of it.

Don't take them. I probably shouldn't even have said that. But it's his body. It's not ours.

We don't decide where we want to play. It says that he puts different parts of the body severly as he wills. He's designed it. It's his.

He can put me here and put you there, put you there. And the whole thing has perfect balance of function. Let's pray. Stand up.

Close out. I want to pray for you today. So if you bow your heads, so see by it, by it, it actually doesn't have to give me a show of hands. I'm going to do that.

I want to pray for the one. You know who you are. Has maybe felt distance. You know, if you feel like you're far from God, I want to say this is just a feeling.

Because the reality is that God has never left you, God will never forsake you. He will never leave you. So if you feel far from God, I want you to come over that feeling with God's word that says, I have a friend that sticks closer than brother. I have the Holy Spirit leaving in me.

I have Jesus as presence. They're never leaving. I'll never say. I want to pray for the one or two or more here today that have picked sides within the body of Christ.

I want you to repent a bit. And repentance doesn't have to be this thing where you're boo-hooing at the altar. Repentance is simply this. It means a change of mind.

You need to exchange the way you think for the way God thinks. And here's what God thinks. He thinks we're all the same. He says he thinks that every difference has been settled because it has.

So if you're seeing differences that are man, see only man and only religion will try to restore what Jesus has eradicated. And so if you're trying to put something back that Jesus has done away with, I want you to repent of that thing. If you're seeing people the way they used to be instead of the way they ought to repent of that. And you're kind of wandering around to where you fit in the body.

I want to pray for that too. Father God, I pray for every person here today. Lord most of all, I pray for the one that's still far from you. God, I know that they seem far away but they're just one yes from Jesus.

Holy Spirit, begin to tug at that person's heart right now. Begin to tug at that person's heart right now. If you're here today and you don't know Jesus, I want you to step out of the aisle. I want you to come forward.

I want you to get things settled with Jesus. I want those differences settled. If that's you, I want you to step out. I'll be right back.

Give you just a second. I want you to come forward. I want you to go through a moment where Jesus wants us to make every different sound. Come on, there's one.

There's another one. Is there anybody else? Anybody else? There's another.

Come on. Jesus, look, Jesus has settled every difference in your life. I don't care what the courts say about you. I don't care what your parents have said about you.

I don't care what your friends have said about you, we're your enemies. There's one person's opinion that matters in the entire world. Jesus is a, that's it. He said, I love you.

He says, I love you. I've died for you. I sent my son to earth. I came to where you are to do what you couldn't do.

I died for every bad thing you ever did. I went to the grave, I went to hell, I came back, and I want to give you eternal life today. That's what Jesus said. I want peace.

He says, I'm going to settle every difference. Anybody else want to join these two today? You want to get those differences settled? I want you to repeat after me, okay?

Stretch your hands out, let's pray for peace. Why don't you say this, Father God? And if you're online and you need Jesus, you repeat this too. I need Jesus.

I recognize that my sin has separated me from you. I realize that Jesus died for my sin. Jesus paid for it. He was buried and rose again.

And I put my faith and trust in Him. I say yes to you, Lord. Yes to you as my Savior. Yes to you as my Lord.