Subject: The Power Available to Those Who are One
Rick Welborne
1 Corinthians 1:9-10 (NKJV)
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
1. We should all be speaking the same thing!
--Why would Jesus want us to speak the same thing? He knows the power available to us when we do. Listen to, from a negative perspective, what unity can do:
Genesis 11:6 (NIV)
6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
--What would happen if we all talked about growing to one thousand plus, if we all talked about being filled with Holy Spirit power, if we all talked about supporting our missionaries.
--Then nothing we would plan to do would be impossible for us. Souls saved, believers filled, and missionaries supported all over the world.
2. We should not have any divisions among us.
--The last words someone speaks before they leave are so important…What were the last things Jesus was saying before He was crucified?
John 17:20-23 (NIV)
20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 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.
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 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.
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
--Our being one is the key to us growing to one thousand… 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.
--Leading up to this chapter are several verses promising Holy Spirit’s coming…We see the perfect unity between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…we too can experience that perfect unity thru Holy Spirit.
--We have many people coming from many different backgrounds to Life Church…we could start nick picking our differences or choose to magnify what we have in common…Jesus, the cross, His blood, His return.
--What made the Day of Pentecost so powerful was the unity of the 120…Jesus originally told over 500 believers (1 Cor.15) His plan…120 were in one mind and one accord…in unity.
Acts 2:1 (NKJV)
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
--Unity in purpose…unity in mission…unity in love…this is an environment where the Presence of God thrives.
3. We should be perfectly joined together in one mind and one judgment.
--In the series I did on Covenant Membership I talked about the concept of Kolloah…Greek word used in Jesus making us one.
Matthew 19:4-6 (NKJV)
4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,'
5 and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?
6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."
4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,'
5 and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?
6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."
--The same word used here in reference to marriage (Kolloah) is the same word used in us being one as the church.
1 Corinthians 1:10 (NKJV)
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Ephesians 4:11-16 (NKJV)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ--
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ--
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
--Come on, Life Church, let’s be perfectly joined together in Christ to grow the body, to send out missionaries, to be filled with Holy Spirit power, and to be faithful to one another in these last days!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.