So we are off on this new series. I'm always excited we started new series many times when we start I don't really know where it's going to go and that's kind of true about what we're starting with today But what we're starting with today is just so important to me because I really feel that you know for our country I think that you all see how divided we are how much space we've let grow between us And I think the church even within the church We've allowed so much of the disunity that is so commonplace outside of the walls to creep in the side of the walls I don't know that I sense that this is a huge problem for mendom But of course, you know, we're not above any more no better than anybody else But I do think that for the church the coming years are going to be really big if we're going to figure out how to get this thing Right, and so we have to figure out ways to reduce the space between us now while I don't know for sure every step of the journey Over these next bunch of weeks how that's gonna go we're gonna study some hard stuff And we're gonna look at some practical solutions. It's this whole concept is undergirded by the last prayer that Jesus prayed And what's interesting about this prayer that Jesus prayed is he didn't just pray a general prayer Jesus prayer Pray to prayer for you like literally he prayed for you It's all gonna look at that and what I would submit to you is that within the church We are we are ignoring this at record levels, and I think you're gonna see that we do it on our own peril So what Jesus prayed for you in his last prayer, it's it's not what you would think it's so different, but yet it's so important I want you to understand how important this is I'm gonna make some bold statements here what Jesus is praying for is more Important than our denominational state a lot of people show up at church first time I see your state in the faith sure here's our statement that's good you should check out a church's statement of faith That's important, but what Jesus is talking about here was more important than that It's more important than how our building logs. It's more important that if we have stained glass windows It's more important than how the worship is it's more important than how the preaching is the kids ministry the youth group the small groups But Jesus is praying for something for you that it's much more important than that It's more important than that if we baptize our children or dedicate them It's more important than how we take communion and who can take communion you're gonna see all of that a few minutes And we get it right and a very early very early followers of Jesus did at least for a short time anyway if we get it right There is nothing there is no power no force There's no set of circumstances that can stand in the way of the church of Jesus Christ But we often get it wrong and it's a big deal So jumping with me John is is one of Jesus's twelve disciples and John is following Jesus around and John records This what I would say is a crisis prayer of Jesus because the whole thing is now beginning to unwind on Jesus and the boys right He's at this point hours away from arrest and trial and crucifixion and death And so he begins to pray and first he begins to pray for the disciples and then he begins to pray Well, here's what he said here's what John heard my prayer is not for them alone at the disciples I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message Now who's Jesus praying for you?
You're here because you've come to believe in Jesus through the message of those disciples. He's literally praying for you, right? Mary Ellen he's praying for you Pat it's hard for me to believe he's praying for you This final crisis prayer And so what is he price is my prayer is not for them alone I pray for those that's you who believe in me through their message that all of them and so that's us that all of them Maybe one that all of them may be one father just as you are in me and I am in you Is anybody else bummed out that that's his prayer Because I'm honest You're sometimes too fleshly pastor could could find this a little disappointing if somebody come up to me and said hey John Jesus over there talking to his dad. I like them.
You want to hear what he's praying about? I just started I just heard him. He started pray about you. You want to listen in I'd be going oh man I cannot Jesus is going to pray for me I can't wait to hear what this is and I would have an agenda of things.
I'd be hoping for as you can imagine Better hair things like that Seriously, so right like oh man what would I want Jesus to pray? I would want I'd be like Jesus ask your dad to protect me Nope, that's not what he prayed for you Jesus. Ask your dad to bless me. You know right?
Don't we want me? What is we have to be asked to add to bless me? No, that's not what it is Jesus could you listen? It's time to tough just keep putting talk to your dad about I know my job my wife my kids my cancer These are all serious things.
It's not that Jesus is an interest interest in those things Jesus is interested in those things like he said bring all those things bring all of your your burdens and your cares But that's not what he prayed about his moment of crisis before it's almost all over that wasn't what he wanted for you What he actually asks for has to do with us He asks that you and I his future followers be one Now show of hands here. How many of you in the last 30 days have spent some time in prayer asking God? I know you know I know I got a bad hairline God. I know you know I know my marriage is a great I know my my kids are struggling and so I'm gonna bring all of those things to you Lord But Lord there is something that is so important.
I just want to put it out there because it's a primary importance father Lord would you make me one with all of the other believers raise your hand if you prayed that in the last 30 days At least we have a bunch of truth tellers here anyway because I didn't either Right and then you know Jesus He doubles down on it because he explains it to you know Jesus if you're aware how he teaches oftentimes he teaches in Narrative form and stories and so he tells a story and then a lot of times he just leaves you to figure out right It's like a mic drop and every sits around and goes hot. What did that mean? Right? Jesus doesn't leave this there he goes and explains it and I think he explains it not because he's trying to explain it to God because Jesus actually earlier and said the gallery knows what you're praying for before you bring it I think he explains it so John writes it down so you would know why he's praying that you would be one He says my prayers not for them alone I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them that maybe one just as you are in me And I am in you may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me Stick with me now.
How will the world know that Jesus is who he said he is? How will they know don't know if Jesus's followers and the days and years to come act like they're one in fact Then he doubles down on it with a second reason the first is that if you're unified people will know that you sent me Here's the second he goes. I have given them glory I've given the glory you gave me so that they can be one just as we are father son Holy Spirit I am then and you and me so that here comes the purpose again why Lord why do they need to be one? Why am I praying it so that They may be brought to complete unity then the world will know you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me Jesus is prayer is that you and I together as late day followers of his be so close so united the space between us so small Well the first reason is so that people would know that Jesus is who he said he is listen to me guys our story is a weird story Think this through in a scientific age.
Here's part of our story We believe that Jesus was born of a virgin lived a seamless life walked on water raised the dead turned water in a wine cast out demons Healed the sick of the blind predicted his own death was crucified dead and buried to pay the price for our sins He was resurrected there by breaking the power of sin and death He walked on earth again and then in the presence of many others was taken up into heaven where he sent his holy spirit Onto the earth to dwell within all of those who would believe that's hard to believe But that's our message and Jesus says that to the extent his followers will be one People will believe that Jesus says people will not necessarily believe this because we convince them about our theological position positions Theologies right it's important to have the right concepts of God or you could be just worshiping yourself But he goes they're gonna believe these things about who I am not because of the weight of the evidence and there is Way the evidence to say that Jesus is who he said he is They're not gonna believe these things because we get our apologetics right our high schoolers are actually in there right now learning How to defend our faith and we should know how to defend what we believe But Jesus says all of that is not going to be the reason people are going to believe that I am who I'm saying I am They're only gonna believe to the extent the followers that come after these disciples Live as one because Jesus understands the principle that you know to you know this one wins One always wins Conversely, here's what I would argue if you want to understand why the church loses why in the western world Christianity seems oftentimes It'd be a full fledged retreat why in our country people not only don't believe God loves them They're not even sure of who God is which is interesting because God is love If you want to understand why so many of our kids grow up and walk away from the church could it be? But the problem is not that Jesus wasn't enough for them But it was that you and I weren't one enough for them now This is shocking in fact in fact this unity is part of our fallen nature The scriptures teach that the dawn of creation this was not the way things were that when God when God when God created us when we lived in The garden there was an there was a relational dynamic called shalom where we lived in peace and unity and oneness and fullness and wholeness With God with one another and with creation But that that choice of man to be his own God destroyed that and what began to happen was space began to get created between us Between you and I between the creation and we between God and us Space came between us And goes into hiding from separation they make coverings one for another But yet even in that fallen nature understand that this principle of one wins is a very powerful principle because one always wins There is tremendous power in unity and one is and maybe you're here This way maybe not a follower of Jesus Maybe you're just kind of coming back to church for the first time and you're you're here pleasing somebody You know making your girlfriend happy or your parents happy and maybe not interested in the God part and you're not even sure about anything Here's something you can take away from this the scriptures were right about one overarching principle There is a power in unity that that is a force that can overwhelm and overcome the greatest of odds One always wins In fact this principle is so strong if you think about it And you know a little bit of the Bible history God actually had to step into human history because the force of unity was so strong the problem with unity is the force of one wins is so strong if it goes in the wrong direction and we've seen it over the years go in the wrong direction right we've seen Troops in one uniform goo stepping a cord walk across Europe We've seen that unity can win, but if that's a dangerous powerful force Here's what I would conclude I would conclude that division and separation space between us is actually part of the curse of the fall Some of you know the story centers the world Shalom oneness Disappears Cain kills able able things quickly kind of span out of control by Genesis chapter 11 The writer records this very interesting story. Here's what he says now the whole world had won the language and a common speech One this there was one this earth broken people but one as people most movies were they found a plane in chinar and settled there And they said come let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches of the heavens so that we can make a name for ourselves Otherwise, we're gonna be scattered over the face of the whole earth But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building and here's what the Lord concluded check this out The Lord said if as one people never got planned for us as unity and Shalom If there's one people speaking the same language they've begun to do this then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them Come let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other So the Lord scattered them from there all over the earth and they stopped building the city God even understands one wins In one of the first nods to the Trinity did you catch that let us go down there God lives in one this three in one Remember Jesus said I and you you you and me and since one wins and man has this broken sinful nature at this point God has to come down and break up the oneness very painfully to his own heart I'm sure because this is not his desire for his people But God separates us one for another and it's not just language that over the years has made it very hard for us to live in unity Now interestingly enough this is kind of cool when Jesus dies He says it's better for me to go because the father's gonna send the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is gonna provide you with power to live And you're gonna do greater things than even I did and so so Jesus goes and the Holy Spirit descends on to the early church And you know what the first thing the Holy Spirit does is Luke records in the book of Acts He says all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues So they began to speak a language that wasn't their own language They began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them Why because they were staying in Jerusalem God fearing Jews from every nation under heaven and when they heard this sound a crowd came together In bewildered in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken God breaks up the unity when we are acting in our fallen nature and as when he restores the unity when we act out of our new nature You see that the four results in division its separation for our own good to protect us from ourselves new life in Christ results in oh and oneness in unity a new found power and ability to understand and hear each other you get that See Jesus says that you love one another as you are one the world and know who I am and the world to know that God loves them One wins But gosh, we do not take this seriously enough at all. We see much more concerned about a lot of other things In the coming weeks in the series we're gonna be looking at what it is that creates space between us actually Jesus's brother James He has this question he wrote a book in the New Testament It's called James and he poses this question he goes What is this that causes fights and quarrels among you?
We're gonna look at that and we're gonna look at ways to solve those things. We're gonna ask that same question try to answer it Give practical solutions to it. This is why SDI is such an important tool This is why I want you to get involved in it, right? If we can lower conflict 80% That's a pretty big deal, right?
But today before we go and look at all the things that cause problems and all the answers to those things I want to I want you to understand why unity why the space between us why it's so important it shrinks I have to share with you something that's really been stuck in my crawl for the last couple weeks because I think what Jesus is saying Here's really important. He's going the world will understand I am who I am the world will understand that God loves people To the degree you love one another to the degree you're in agreement to the degree you live in unity So many of you guys are on social media different social media counts, right? And so when you have social media accounts you see them kind of stream by you see the groups that you're in and all the rest and Some of you are like in sports groups and in town groups I often know my dogs are running out because we're in a local long-value group and somebody is always posting what it is the black Lab that's running down whatever street right I'm in that group And so I'm in another group that most of you probably aren't and you're not privileged enough to be in this group You have to be a very special kind of person to be in I am and you're not And this is the group you have to be a pastor and ordained pastor or you have to be an international worker So these are like so you're not really all that bum now or anything whether you're not in this group as you can imagine It's not all that riveting the stuff that's coming through But I'm in this group and I got to get out of this group Here's why This has been what's been coming through in the last couple weeks one one person wrote this now remember Who's the audience of these posts is the audience people outside of the world outside of the church? No, these are pastors and international missionaries you're with me.
That's the audience. That's the only way you're allowed in The real problem in the American church is that most simply do not respect the word of God I don't believe there's power in the preaching of the word itself now. Who's he saying let's do? Preachers When preachers preach restricted by the sensibilities of the flesh they're admitting they don't believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to Annoy the word and make a sexual to the here.
This is why mega church consumer driven pop Christianity isn't object failure Tell me how you really think numbers do not automatically translate into believers or disciples Why do men think there'd be there to be loved by those who disdain the word? Why do pastors think they're not to be hated in this lost demonic culture? We're promise that we'll be hated it is what it is it'd be impossible to over-appronse the importance of sound doctrine in the life of a Christian Right thinking about spiritual matters is imperative if we would have the right the right living Wow, I'm going. Oh man that that is just Loaded with agenda right loaded with it and so Another brother waited in into the comment stream as people are want to do and he was going back and forth at one point He goes so you can stop with the calls to the importance of sound doctrine We're all living on less than we could by being pastors who care about and teach sound doctrine What I'm talking about with you is your tone.
We're talking about a divisive argument of a contentious spirit We're talking about the feeling of self-appointed theological recess monitors that we get from you sometimes bro We're all fellow licensed and ordained leaders. There's a problem in the world. It's not in here We're part of the solution. We're on the same team To which came this response who are you to judge me?
Season with grace. What are you the Holy Spirit? You don't get to decide what's grace and what's not you judge through your opinion not by some divine appointment Sometimes truth just needs to be spoken plainly and in a couple lines later. Here's how the whole thread concluded the administrator has turned off commenting on this Ladies and gentlemen your church leaders Then the world will know that you sent me and you've you've loved them even as you've loved me if you'll be one Man, we got to do better than that.
We got to do better than that It's only coming weeks. We're gonna talk about the power of one Why in a world that praises and prizes autonomy? Why maybe the church should reconsider that a little bit and start to think about unity and oneness Towards that end I want to close with with with just kind of one reason that you should care right that before before I teach you what causes the fights And I teach you how to get out of the fights you need to know why it matters number the first reason is if you want to know Why we're losing our kids you want to know people don't even think about a guy there's a guy anymore It's because the pastors can't even talk each other on a Facebook anymore Here's the second reason we have to get this right the second region is a supernatural reason that unity matters Why should matter to you the Apostle Paul was writing to a church in the city of Corinth and in that church This is gonna be shocking. We do here what this church was arguing about it's shocking in that church like most of the churches Paul is writing to divisions had arisen They were arguing all kinds of theological and doctorate doctrinal issues go home and check this out It's in the New Testament first Corinthians and so here's how Paul opens the ladder because he catches wind of what's going on in the church From a friend here's what he writes in that church he goes I appeal to you This is pretty strong.
I'm appealing to you brothers and sisters in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ This is you know that actually, you know, it's like for Christ's sake really right for Christ's sake Okay, I don't mean that possible to be that's what Paul say for the sake of Jesus. I'm asking you to stop I'm asking that you would all agree with one another and what you say and that there be no divisions among you But that you be perfectly united in mind and thought my brothers and sisters Some from Chloe's household have informed me that there's quarrels among you and he starts from there for the next 11 chapters He's tries to settle the quarrels and fights that this church is having let me tell you what the church is fighting over you Check this out. Okay, you just got to go to read the headlines. That's just the bold pieces They're divided over the church leaders who should be the leaders who shouldn't who they should follow who they shouldn't right?
They were divided over sex issues. They were divided over who could sleep with who they were divided over how you handled disputes within the church Certain believers were suing other believers. They were divided over marriage issues Who could marry who they were divided over food issues who could eat what they were divided over religious rules issues? They were divided over women's roles in the church issues.
They were divided over issues of communion who could take a minute who couldn't take communion? How ridiculous is this you can believe a church would actually argue over any of those things could you I could go on and on And so Paul carefully after he has them for Jesus's sake. Would you stop? Paul gets to chapter 12 and he makes a turn after he addresses all of their stuff and here's what he says To a fractious group of believers he goes do you know who you are?
You are the body of Christ and each of you as a part of it you this group of Separating fighting people you that are pointing fingers at each other and waving hands at each other and separating over all these Just you're the body of Christ you are now post going you don't understand since Jesus is ascended He's no longer here his body is not here his body is you you are the body of Christ you Now not you can't that's fairly obvious of those that know you but you just go I'm gonna tell you about your coffee up Not you tad not you Rameka you are not the body of Christ you are the body of Christ Right you're it Collectively Jesus isn't on earth, but you are together you are his body and when this is working right now This is gonna start to make sense because when this is working right do you know what the closest somebody comes to getting to Jesus on this earth is It's as close as they get to us And that's why Paul's gone all alright Jesus is going on man Please make them one please make them one because this is as close as people gonna get here to me Are them? We're the body of Christ. We're not individuals. We love individual Christianity.
I get it right. I just I get it I get the world we live in today, right? I mean I know I Get up on Sunday morning, right? I have a friend that tells me watches me with his coffee on the toilet every week So that I know why he tells me that because I never feel good about it.
What's up Mike? I get it right like you know you need to come to church man I'm in the men of band is good, but John Hills on on YouTube right? Man, you don't need to come to church John. You know I like you John, but you know you know Andy Stanley And you know sometimes sometimes you know you make me feel bad So I like what I like to do is get my coffee a Hillsong video and an osteen talk And I'm just I'm good to go man like I'm good to go and Jesus is going you have no idea what you're talking about You're missing out on the whole thing You're supposed to be as you come together the body of Christ now the church has gotten this over the years Right because the church has we've seen what the church can do when it gets the one is about a way we see what the church can do When it gets the one is thing wrong to but we see what it can do when we get it right my daughter Caroline is the Queen of college visits I've been if you follow me on Facebook.
I've been to 21 college visits 21 just with heart that doesn't include my other kids And we've been to a lot of a lot of carolines really good soon. We've been to a bunch of good schools Do you know what is at the heart of every school? And I'm talking about like prestigious schools right at the heart of every school a church Because when people when the church was getting it right and I do you advise vision who Jesus was and it started saying we got to educate the people Do every half of every hospital right so many of them started by the church because the church was getting it right at one point If you want the presence of Jesus who when we're two and three are gathered on there in the midst of them If you know there's something about the coming together we know this we know we go to it How much effect I've had in Guatemala none what have we done in Guatemala? There's power there Paul tries to explain it to the church he backs up because let me explain what I'm trying to teach you I'll be done in a second He goes just as just as a body though one has many parts all of its many parts form one body so it is in Christ This is Paul he's saying this is how serious this is he actually uses the term Christ and church interchangeably here Just as one body though has many parts all of its many parts form one body You would think he'd say so it is with the church No, he's going because the church is Christ the church is the body of Christ and so that's the body as many parts So it is with Christ he's using the terms interchangeably That's how important this unity thing is he goes we were all baptized by one spirit So it's the form one body whether Jew or Gentiles labor free we were all given one spirit to drink even so the body is not made up of One part even though we were all given and believe this there's still getting many parts to the body You know if you were baptized as part of our church in that Lake in Long Valley you were not baptized into mandible You're not baptized into this church You were baptized into the eternal everlasting body of Jesus Christ and it does not matter and you share something like a lot of times people Be like oh, I can't go to that church lie.
Oh everybody's rich there. Okay. Let's start with me You know look truthly relative to the world. I'm rich.
That's true, but everybody here's not rich But it keeps people from coming here, right? Oh everybody there is what you know you've heard some of this everybody there is Whatever and what Paul is saying is no no no see once you got baptized in to the church All that stuff goes away Doesn't matter if you're rich or poor or educated or uneducated good looking or ugly clear It doesn't matter if you're ugly, right? You've all been given this gift There are no ranks in here out there We rank and lift and elevate and tear and cast in here There's no female or male or Greek or Jew or slavery free There's one as we try to explain it almost in kind of joke for me because now it's the foot should say Because I'm not a hand I don't belong to the body It would not for that reason stop being part of the body now this makes perfect sense to me because I detest feet I'm not a fan of feet. Everybody knows this that knows me.
I think they should always be covered ladies I'll never understand why you paint your toenails to draw attention to feet. I don't get that Gentlemen your whole another issue your feet should always be covered I have no idea why a guy thinks anybody wants to see his feet and so Paul gets that and that's why he uses this as an example He's going look feet are bad, right hands are good, right? Now the foot should say because I'm not a hand I don't belong to the body just because the foot goes You know what I'm not as good looking rich smart, you know, whatever What am I gonna do? Doesn't need me and the church doesn't mean what am I gonna do?
You know, I don't I don't I'm not the smartest of the rich I don't think exactly I don't know I can't why can't hey, why don't you go to Bible say I can't go to Bible study Why I don't know anything about the Bible what that's the whole point of Bible you see like it's always something else, right? I can't I can't can't see Post it on. No, no, you don't understand like just because you say I don't fit in I'm different It doesn't mean you're not a part of the body you are a part of the body like when you were baptized You became part of the body of Jesus Christ and I only correct the theology there when you came to believe You became part of the body of Jesus Christ Paul saying is like if the foot is yucky And it thinks it's yucky and it is it's not saying that it's not part of the body It's part of the body because God put it there He goes on if the ear should say I love this because the ear see the foot's envious of the ear Right the foot's gonna look at me right and then he's going if I could just be the year Then maybe people would like me but the ears looking at the eye the ear should say because I think Paul's laughing as he's right And the ear should say because I'm not an eye but I don't belong to the body because I'm not an eye Would it stop for that reason being part of the body right you know the ear is obviously important, but it goes gosh You know the eyes more important. I mean you can't get by with an eye I'm just an ear I get all waxy and hairy when I get old so I don't belong But just you see post I don't know if I care he tries to clear this up He goes look at the whole if the whole body weren't I Where would the sense of hearing me if the whole body weren't here?
Where are the sense of smell me eyes are great? Have you ever seen an eye everybody? You know everybody never seen somebody pop an eyeball out See cuz eyes are great when they're in the body aren't they? Then an eyeball outside of the body isn't all that attractive or functional is it?
Because the eyeball finds its purpose hear me now the eyeball finds its purpose. It's dignity. It's worth its value It's beauty when it's in the body It takes every part For this to work and put in court. They're fighting over who's better who follows who who's got what gift look just two extremes here Right some of you this morning need to hear this and and maybe you've been the kind of person that's like oh the church is so pedestrian People are still uneducated right like I don't even know why I go You know there's car dealers in there That's my friend.
That's a car dealer in the back right? Oh, and so you think you're too good. I'm too good man I want to I want to I run a hedge fund you want me to work on the church when you want me to get coffee Right, I'm gonna do that Some of you need to start going man like you don't understand dude. You might be like an ear But you know you're not all that good outside of the body and some of you're going you know I don't fit in here everybody's so much better than I can't tell you how many people I've had say to me Oh everybody at Menom's got their life all together I'd like to ask you to raise your hand if you have your life together But some of you would feel the pressure to lie and raise your hand and I don't know I'm gonna make you stand in church So Paul's gonna look you need to understand what's going on here.
You're so important one to another. I know you're different I know you're different. I know you're not the same here's why it matters because God put you together for a purpose and a reason Check this out. This is some supernatural crazy stuff But in fact God has placed the parts in the body every one of them just as they want on the beat Do you know why you're here?
Because God wanted you to be here because you have something to contribute to the family of God I don't care if you think you're smarter or better than everybody here or you think you're dumber and less than everybody here You're here because God placed you here. You have something to contribute every single one of us Think about it so much of what we pursue now This is why we have to break down the space between us so much of what we pursue and are looking for has to do with me Finding my way and my destiny my purpose my call my growth my identity my needs and we're out there trying to pursue my thing I think what Paul is saying that if you're trying to find peace and purpose and identity and you're chasing after those things out there This is why they're elusive. This is why every time you think you found your way and your cause and your purpose out there It slips through your fingers why because you were made to function within a body right not outside of the body Now there's always the opportunity for disunity when we don't get this and that's why Paul says this yeah I cannot say to the hand I don't need you I heard a guy riffing on this this week He was going you know yeah, I cannot say to the hand I don't need you and the hand would look back at the eye and go really let me know how it goes with your contacts tonight big boy and The head cannot say to the feet I don't need you on the contrary those parts of the body listenest I need you hear this I don't know where I fit and I don't know I don't know if I should be here I you know I don't know on the contrary the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable Didn't say the pastor was indispensable now I'd like you believe that but it doesn't say that because the truth is I'm highly dispensable Because it's not about me you or the body of Christ and You are indispensable to the work of God you're indispensable to the work of God you keep trying to find your purpose and identity and calling out there The eyeball does no good when it's not connected to the body. That's what does no good when it's not connected to the body I mean just think about the individual.
Oh, you know, I don't feel very close to God I have people tell me what I don't feel close to God to which you know I guess one of the things I'd ask is how close do you are you to his church? Because if you want to feel close to God You kind of get involved in his church because that's where he is. It's the body of Christ Oh, you know, I don't feel like I'm growing anymore I feel like I'm just kind of stagnant to which it would say like you know If you take a foot off the body the foot stops growing You know if you kind of plateaued in your walk how close you to the body of Christ Those of you that are going I can't find my purpose. I don't know what's my I don't know my purpose is I what's the meaning of life?
I think there's a lot of truth to be said that your purpose can be found when you start connecting who you are Into the living not always beautiful The wonderful body of Jesus Christ Maybe that's why the world hasn't concluded that Jesus is who he says he is Maybe that's why people don't really believe that God loves them because we haven't done a very good job with this And then Paul concludes and so you are the body of Christ How will they believe? How will they know? When you are one how will your kids know? When you're one how will the school board change when they see this is one one always wins