Embracing the Journey of Sanctification and Unity

"And it says in verse six, it says, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. And he talked to us about the big, word sanctification, that we are being saved. And in here though, we know that there were three parts of it that Kip shared with. And he said, there was initial sanctification, that moment or that time period where you said, you know what, for the first time, I'm going to follow Jesus. And it's at that moment that that song's true, will never be plucked from his hand after that moment. That when we know in that moment that we have been made right, we are saved in that moment." [00:39:23]

"Thank goodness for forgiveness, right? That he's still working some things out and also praise God for what Kip has pointed us to since we talked in Romans 8 a while ago, that one day our mind is going to be bent toward the things of God and our natural default in that time is going to be, the things of Jesus and not the things of us in selfishness. In the meantime, we have this progressive sanctification. We are being saved day by day. He's working it out in us. And then a day is going to come where there'll be final or complete sanctification, where it's all going to be done. It's all going to be that we're going to be before our God and we're going to be perfect." [00:40:58]

"What steps am I taking to invite Jesus to work in my life? And so this morning, I want you to ask that question, but I want you to pray it, because in Psalm 139, it says, search me, O God, and know my heart. And so we're going to take 60 seconds. That may feel long to some of you, and we're just going to pray and simply say, God, I want to invite you to speak to my heart today." [00:42:58]

"Lord, if we already know you and follow you, we believe that your spirit is in us. So would you convict us of some things that maybe we need to work on? Would you challenge us? And then, Lord, help us to have the courage to step out and putting into practice. Speak to us, Lord. Love you. In Jesus' name, amen." [00:44:41]

"Well, last week, Kip talked, that we are God's construction project, that he is working on us. And just like we have construction in our building, he's also working on us. And the neat part of God's construction project is God doesn't just do that on us individually. He also does it in a corporate way as the body of Christ, because the church is about people. It's not about a building or a structure. The church is people. And so he wants us as his construction project to be working together as well." [00:45:03]

"If any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like -minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. That if we are going to be part of God's construction project, then we are going to have to fight for unity together. Look at the words that are in here. You have any encouragement, be united. If there's comfort in his love and common sharing, you need to have that. Tenderness and compassion, then make the joy complete. Why? By being, or how? By being like -minded, same love, one in spirit and of one mind. Why does he have to call us to this? Because my default is to think about me." [00:51:26]

"We make a choice together to say, I am going to be unselfish. I'm going to choose to put my preferences to the side. To what I say is at both ends of this and all through the middle. Older people, we need, I get to say that now in my fifth decade and above, right? That we need to say, I need to look at younger generations and what do they need and what are their preferences? And I need to put my opinion on the shelf a little bit and embrace what they have. You know what else needs to happen? Younger generations need to do the same thing and say, you know what? For the sake of unity of church, I'm going to take some of my preferences. I'm going to put them on the side for the sake of my older friends and people that I go to church with. What kind of place would we have then?" [00:54:58]

"Here's what I also know back in John 17, talking about unity, thinking about being like Jesus in John 17, Jesus is praying and he prays over his disciples and those things. And then he turns his prayer in verse 20 and he prays it for all of us, for all the people that are coming in the future that will follow him. And it says my prayer in verse 20 of John 17 says, my prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one father, 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 have sent me. And then verse 23, I am them and you and me so that they may be brought to complete unity." [01:00:33]

"He wants us to be unselfish as he was. And what's the best way to do that? It's by following Jesus together. We say that that's one of our key parts of our mission as a church is that we will follow Jesus together because we need each other. We need each other. In 1 Peter 2, 4, and 5, it says, as you come to him, the living stone rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Like living stones are being built into a spiritual house." [01:02:33]

"Now I'll admit that I am not a great Lego builder. So you get the rectangle house of many colors. I told you I wasn't good at construction. All right. But I also like this one because it shows a bunch of individual colors. And now if you wanted to try to take a part of it, you could do it. You could do it. You could do it. You could do this one white piece right here, or you wanted to get down to this red piece down here. And if you have ever tried to peel off these really thin ones off of each other, I cut my fingernails last night. I'm probably going to be bleeding and bruised by the time I actually get these little parts off. Why? Because these things are so fused together in Ephesians chapter two, it talks about Jesus. It's holding us all together that when we think unity, we don't have to do it on our own. We have the ultimate power source in Jesus Christ. And like these Legos, we can be surrounded. If I'm this block right here and the world starts to crash in on me, guess what? I am completely surrounded by other people." [01:04:39]

"Here at our church, when we have groups, we say, together, we're going to designate time and place to deepen our desire for God, to make sure that we're cared for, and to make sure that we are to put our faith into action. Do you have a group that's doing that? And can I also ask, is your group that you're in doing that? And could you, for the sake of unity, challenge your group to step up and say, are we in the scripture together? Are we encouraging each other? Are we praying? Are we holding each other accountable to take next steps in our lives? Because it's there that we experience God in a fresh way." [01:08:13]

"Romans 10 in Tim Boucher's translation is, if you believe it, say it. If you believe that Jesus is Lord and he's who he said he was and died on the cross for your sins, and you believe that, you are saved. So tell him. And then guess what? You're part of the family. You're in. You're no longer the Jenga block way off. You're connected together like the Legos with other believers that will help walk with you. And can I challenge you today to say, to take that step of faith and follow him and pray to him this morning. Let's pray now. God, I come to you. And Lord, I thank you for unity." [01:12:39]