Be One - The Prayer that Defines Us

Unity comes only from God. There is power when Christians come into agreement and unity. Again, the world thrives on division. Sporting industries thrive on the rallying, on the this team against that team. Colleges thrive. My college is better than your college. Everything thrives on this competition. But in the kingdom of God, you thrive on unity. You thrive on being one where maybe you shouldn't be one. You thrive on knowing that the only thing that you need to have in common is that you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, that you are a follower of Jesus, and that's it. [00:12:51] (45 seconds)  #UnityFromGod

And I don't know how many of you have read this passage and saw it as one with Jesus. Yes. I'm there. One with God. Yes. But the prayer of Jesus is that we will be one with each other. That's the prayer. And we know that all things are possible in Jesus. Again, this is not a worldly concept. This is the most unworldly thing ever, but it is where our strength comes from, where people will surrender and acknowledge there is. There is a savior. His name is Jesus. There is that one true God. He is real. Look at the evidence before us. It is real. [00:29:35] (47 seconds)  #OneWithEachOther

Our great commission from Jesus is go out there and make disciples. Go out there and spread the good news. Go out there and tell people that there is a savior and his name is Jesus. But one of the things that's gonna draw people to Jesus is how we're one. How we're united. How we are united in spite of our background, in spite of our race, in spite of our dominant language, in spite of what we've gone through in life, in spite if we have children or no children, if we've gone to college or not college, if we are a teenager, if we're retired, in spite of where we are in life, we're called to be one. [00:11:56] (43 seconds)  #UnityDrawsPeople

If you didn't know that, today is what we know as Palm Sunday. It is a start of holy week. And when you look back in the word of God, this was the time that Jesus came in, that triumphal entry, and people were shouting, Hosanna, save us. And they were waving the palm fronds, and they were laying things out before him, like making this red carpet for Jesus to come in. But that same crowd that was celebrating and crying out, save us, Jesus, A week later, was crying out, crucify him. [00:00:26] (35 seconds)  #PalmSundayReminder

In the body of Christ, we need it all. And I wrote a couple of things that sometimes we even use that as a moment to, like, let's let's separate ourselves here. So in the body of Christ, we need it all. We need the introvert and the extrovert. We need the reserved, and we need the outgoing. We need the quiet, and we need the loud. We need all the beautiful different cultures that are represented in this room, in this city. God has planted us in a city that has everything. Isn't that awesome? [00:24:25] (36 seconds)  #WeNeedEveryone

I want that for my neighbors. I want that for my family. I want that for this city, for this nation. But one of the ways to evangelize is by our unity. By our unity. So the call today, can we be united with that that doesn't make sense because it pleases the father, and it also makes us know God even greater because of the goodness of what God has shown our brother and sister and not be stuck like those blind men. No. No. No. It's a rope. It's a rope. I felt it. I touched it. You are wrong. [00:26:17] (41 seconds)  #UnityEvangelism

Our heavenly father is kind and kind again and again to people that are the most ungrateful, that are not kind back, but that's what the call of action is today. Can we love and be united and give and be merciful to each other and be kind to each other and show love to each other and protect each other and cover each other while we see that our brother and sister may be, like, failing or or they didn't get to see that part? Can we run to that area and cover it so nobody thinks of them? Can we do and we can be an encourager to them when we see that they are down? [00:23:31] (41 seconds)  #LoveCoverEncourage

For my science medical people out there, this body that God created is such a beautiful reflection of what unity is and what it can do. You have your whole vascular system. You have your whole respiratory system. They need each other. You can't take a breath if both of those things are not working in perfect harmony and in that perfect unity that needs to work in. When there's something wrong in either one, can't take a breath. When there's something wrong in either one, try walking three steps. We can't. [00:20:40] (34 seconds)  #BodyInUnity