Divine Unity: Christ's Call for Oneness Among Believers

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In John 17, I believe really belongs in its own genre because you need, you know, what's happening in John 17. You have Jesus praying to the Father. It's almost like you're going into a room where a discussion is going on, and you don't really belong in that room. [00:03:01]

There's a sense in which, wait a second, you're telling me there's an eternal Triune God, this God who's always existed as Father, Son, Holy Spirit for eternity past in perfect union, which we can't understand. I don't understand eternity. It's in my heart. I know it, but I can't explain. [00:03:41]

This is what Jesus prays to the Father. I don't know what you pray to the Father, but this is what the Son of God prays to the Father. He says that they may all be one. Okay, you want to listen in on the most sacred conversation on the Earth and understand what is most important. [00:06:17]

And so we look at certain things, and they look like exaggerations, but again, I have to submit to the word of God and to the prayer of Jesus and go, no, I think this is about as truthful as it gets when the Son of God is talking. [00:07:37]

I want them all to be perfectly one just as he goes, you know how I am in you and you are in me. He says, I want them, I want them all to be in us. We are, are you kidding me? You're talking about a thousand years ago, 10,000 years ago, million years ago. [00:09:27]

And the byproduct of that is we are all standing in Christ. We are in the Father, in the Son, looking at each other, and we're just like, are you kidding me? I am one with almighty God. His spirit is inside of me. He was knocking on the door. [00:12:06]

And so when we're all just in the midst of this holy, holy unapproachable God whose glory outshines the Sun, and we find ourselves in there, that's the only way that we become perfectly one with each other because we're always looking at each other like we don't belong in here. [00:13:02]

And now we look around the room and say, these are people that have God, very God inside of them, and so we honor one another, and we don't dare slander one another because you look at me and go, I'm not going to mess with him because I know who his dad is. [00:14:19]

And it begins with our oneness with him and our oneness with each other, and I look at that, and I'm a very, you know, I'm a mathematical guy. Most of my ancestors are, you know, it's just we, it's just I want to know this plus this equals this. [00:17:14]

And here we were in this place where they never even heard the name of Jesus in my first time preaching to a group of people who had never heard the name of Jesus and telling God, I mean, there's like 80-year-old people in the front row that have believed one thing their whole life. [00:20:59]

And just kept splitting, splitting, splitting, and then my upbringing, I was in this little Chinese church, and then suddenly one day, you know, as a kid, it's like half my friends are gone, oh, because we split. Oh, okay. Then eventually I left and went to this other church. [00:26:24]

And I want us to see each other as a part of that body. It's even beyond marriage. It's one body, and to just say, Lord, we repent, and in this room, I want to pray a blessing over the broken relationships. [00:35:18]

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