Speaker 1: So we're starting the series.
Speaker 1: What matters most, what matters most?
Speaker 1: And this is a great question to ask whether you're dealing with your family or you're dealing with your business or dealing with your career, or are you dealing with the church?
Speaker 1: It makes a difference.
Speaker 1: What matters most, even if you're raising your kids, what matters most?
Speaker 1: Because what you're doing is you're determining your priorities and determining priorities is critical to success.
Speaker 1: In fact, I would say that the choices you make and the stands that you take in life are directly related to, they are a product of your priorities.
Speaker 1: Priorities are those things that you determine matter more than other things you say this for whatever reason in your life matters more than something else.
Speaker 1: And so you pay more attention to that thing.
Speaker 1: And, and life is filled with prioritizations that it doesn't really end in life.
Speaker 1: It changes a little bit because priorities do change, uh, throughout life, but it changes a little bit, but there is always an opportunity to make these, these adjustments, if you will, or, or to rank these things in our life.
Speaker 1: And so we have those priorities that we talk about.
Speaker 1: We say, well, Christie and I have had the conversation over the years.
Speaker 1: We say, well, are we going to go out to eat after church today?
Speaker 1: And the next question becomes, where's the budget.
Speaker 1: If the budget is more of a priority than the food, then we don't go out to eat because the budget says no, for years, we said, what does Ramsey say
Speaker 2: About that?
Speaker 2: Um, because we were on the Dave Ramsey plan, how to Lou you more than the Gordon Ramsey plan.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 2: That just popped into my head.
Speaker 2: So anyway,
Speaker 1: So what's more important is the cool car more important than the practical minivan?
Speaker 1: Whereas the priority,
Speaker 2: I was
Speaker 1: One who said, I would never drive a minivan, but then I discovered you could put a whole sheet of plywood.
Speaker 1: If you lay the seats down right in the back of that minivan, all piece of sheet rock right there.
Speaker 1: And it's incredibly practical.
Speaker 1: So where's the priority in your life.
Speaker 1: So those are the kind of spoken ones, but then you have your unspoken priorities.
Speaker 1: When you start talking to somebody, dating somebody, you start trying to assess our looks or personality the priority.
Speaker 1: And sometimes if you're like me, you get blessed with both
Speaker 2: [inaudible] cause, cause I'm not a stupid man.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
Speaker 2: They are.
Speaker 1: And so, and so you, you, you, but, but you don't talk about that.
Speaker 1: You, you, you, you, you keep that among yourself.
Speaker 1: You know, if you're a movie buff, then, then you, you, you try to weigh things like, do I want to watch a quality movie or Batman versus got it.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: Ma maybe your decision making is more like, do I care more about winning or being a Browns fan?
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: In first service, I also had the most response to that one there.
Speaker 1: In fact, one persons that I have never walked out on a sermon before, but I was this close.
Speaker 3: What
Speaker 1: The priority is itself care or care for others?
Speaker 1: Where is your prioritization?
Speaker 1: Where does that go?
Speaker 1: And here's the thing you think.
Speaker 1: Well, whenever I become very successful in something, then those things will just work itself out.
Speaker 1: And that's not true.
Speaker 1: In fact, the more successful you are, the more you have to pay attention to the priority because more opportunity comes your way.
Speaker 1: If you're more successful in your family, then you're going to have more things that compete for your family stuff.
Speaker 1: And you're going to have to determine what's most successful.
Speaker 1: What's most important there.
Speaker 1: If you're successful in business, more opportunities are gonna come from business and you're going to have to determine what am I trying to really achieve in business?
Speaker 1: And it that's the true about across the board.
Speaker 1: The more successful you are in something, if it's finances, more opportunity is going to come your way to be able to invest finances in particular things.
Speaker 1: And you're going to have to determine do what's the priority.
Speaker 1: What kind of things will I invest in?
Speaker 1: And what kind of things will I not invest in priorities are about gaining and maintaining the right focus for this time in your life, in your family, in your career, in your business, and pretty much anything else, other category of life that you could put into that sentence, it's about determining, gaining and maintaining the right focus and whatever sits at the top of your priority list.
Speaker 1: That's the thing that you're saying this matters most, this matters most, and we have all kinds of possibilities with that.
Speaker 1: Emotionally.
Speaker 1: We might say, well, our family matters most or, or family time matters most or love matters.
Speaker 1: Most those that's really what sits at the top of my priority list, or maybe in your family it's education matters most or, or sports.
Speaker 1: And, and that kind of team engagement matters most this world would S would say that that career matters most or wealth matters.
Speaker 1: Most prestige matters.
Speaker 1: Most different things compete for what matters most and only you can determine what matters most in your own life.
Speaker 1: But I would ask the question today, what does Jesus say matters most?
Speaker 1: What would be the top priority in his estimation?
Speaker 1: If he is who he says he is, then he is the savior of the world.
Speaker 1: He is the son of God made flesh that dwelt among us.
Speaker 1: But even if he's not, he's an incredibly wise man, people who don't even believe that he is the savior recognize the wisdom of what he brought to this earth.
Speaker 1: And, and many people would say, I don't believe he's the son of God, but I still listen or live by his principles because they're just good for life.
Speaker 1: So no matter where you fall on the spectrum, I, for one, believe he is exactly who he says he is.
Speaker 1: Eh, but no matter where you fall on the spectrum, the, the reality is knowing what he believes or what he says matters most is critical to our lives.
Speaker 1: And in John chapter 17, we find a very intimate prayer.
Speaker 1: Some people call it the high priest, prayer, or an intercessor prayer, but it's Jesus talking to his father in a very intimate way.
Speaker 1: He's, he's on his way to the cross.
Speaker 1: And so he's very intense about everything that's going on is very, very dedicated to the focus of his life.
Speaker 1: And, and he's just, he he's, he's, he's approaching the time when he knows he's going to sacrifice it all for the sin of mankind.
Speaker 1: But while he's dedicated to that, he's also caring very deeply about the people that he's leaving behind.
Speaker 1: And he saying, father, I want you to take care of them.
Speaker 1: Here's, here's what I've brought them to here.
Speaker 1: The understanding that we've come to, and, and now I'm going to be with you.
Speaker 1: And so I'm asking you to care for those that I'm leaving behind and out of 25 prayers of Jesus and scripture.
Speaker 1: This is by far the longest prayer.
Speaker 1: And we're going to read part of that John chapter 17 verse number.
Speaker 1: And he says, and I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world.
Speaker 1: And I am coming to you.
Speaker 1: Holy father, keep them in your name, which you have given me that they may be one, even as we are one now who's, who's the we, the father and Jesus, who's the, they, the, they, it could be the disciples.
Speaker 1: It could be the apostles.
Speaker 1: It could be, but he goes ahead in his own prayer.
Speaker 1: And he defines the day in verse number 20, we pick it up.
Speaker 1: It says, I do not ask for these only those who are with him right there in that moment, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.
Speaker 1: So if you're a believer, because what you see in scripture, if you're a believer, because you've read the words of Christ in on the page, if you're a believer, because you've seen the work of Christ and others' lives who have also read the word of God, then you are one who've been in, who has been impacted by the words from those who are with Jesus.
Speaker 1: This moment, when he's praying, he's talking about you and me verse number 21, he says that they may all be one just as you father are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Speaker 1: So that's the second time.
Speaker 1: And this one, prayer that Jesus has asked the father to help them
Speaker 2: Become one.
Speaker 1: The second time he said that, and then verse 22, the glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one, even as we are one.
Speaker 1: So that now that's the third time that Jesus has said the same thing to the father.
Speaker 1: It's not because the father forgot what Jesus said, and it's not because Jesus is not aware of what he said.
Speaker 1: But now for the third time, he said that they may be one, even as we are one, and then verse 23, I, and them and you in me that they may become perfectly one
Speaker 2: The fourth time.
Speaker 2: He's
Speaker 1: Saying this why, again, he's repeating himself again so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them.
Speaker 1: Even as you loved
Speaker 2: Me, four times,
Speaker 1: Jesus says, let them be
Speaker 2: One like you and I are one, four times.
Speaker 1: He, he is crying out for the same thing.
Speaker 1: Now in this, in this, this is not the only thing he says in this prayer.
Speaker 1: He also gives four goals for the believer.
Speaker 1: He says, number one, I want them to be in the father.
Speaker 1: How many wants to be in the fathers today?
Speaker 1: You, if you don't know, yes, you want to be in the father today.
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 1: We want to be in the father.
Speaker 1: Then he said, I want them to be sanctified in truth.
Speaker 1: I want to be sanctified in truth today.
Speaker 1: He says, I want them to be in heaven.
Speaker 1: He's praying this for you and I, that we will be with him in heaven when it's all said and done.
Speaker 1: And then he says that God's love will be in them.
Speaker 1: So in all of these things, these are the goals he's setting out for his people in this prayer and all four of them.
Speaker 1: I want to be part of.
Speaker 1: We want to be part of so four goals and four times he says that they may be one.
Speaker 1: Now he could have prayed for anything.
Speaker 1: This is, this is the son of God made flesh walking on planet earth.
Speaker 1: He is about to ride, go to his death, but he's going to rise again in glory.
Speaker 1: He's going to sit at the right hand of the father.
Speaker 1: He has power and authority.
Speaker 1: He understands who he is and what he's there to do.
Speaker 1: And he could have prayed for anything he could have said, father give them all kinds of power.
Speaker 1: Just give them power that they just ooze power all the time.
Speaker 1: Just power, power, power.
Speaker 1: How many would like to be endued with power from on high?
Speaker 1: Ah, your were because he said the Holy spirit would give us power from on high, but he could have prayed that in this prayer.
Speaker 1: And he did it.
Speaker 1: Another thing could have prayed as Lord give wealth.
Speaker 1: Like the world has never seen so that when they say it, they can do it in G in.
Speaker 1: Does Jesus pray in Jesus' name?
Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: So let so let that, how many real, okay.
Speaker 1: If the Lord prayed for you to have vast wealth, I'd be okay with that.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all are lying.
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you you're lying.
Speaker 1: You'd be okay with that.
Speaker 1: How about Lord father give them worldly authority.
Speaker 1: So when they say it, they're in the chart, they're in charge of the, of the government.
Speaker 1: They're in charge of the arts.
Speaker 1: They're in charge of entertainment.
Speaker 1: They're in charge of wealth.
Speaker 1: They're in charge of the, of the world systems.
Speaker 1: He could have prayed all of those things and he didn't, he didn't.
Speaker 1: In fact, he has four priorities for us, four things, four goals, rather for us four goals for us, all of them that we want to achieve, but all of them take one priority, four goals, one priority, Jesus prays for unity of his followers.
Speaker 1: Four times father, let them be one.
Speaker 1: Even as we are one he's prioritizing unity.
Speaker 1: Now the big idea today is this unity matters most for ultimate success.
Speaker 1: Unity matters most for ultimate success.
Speaker 1: Now Jesus was focused on the spiritual realities of life.
Speaker 1: He, he was focused on you and I getting to heaven, being in God and God working through us.
Speaker 1: He, he was, he was focused on you and I getting the gospel of Jesus Christ out and around the world.
Speaker 1: But unity is what matters most in every part of life.
Speaker 1: And then this series, we're going to discover how to build unity in the decisions that we make and the stands that we take.
Speaker 1: And you might be saying, well, wait a minute, I don't lead a church.
Speaker 1: And so do I need to know about this?
Speaker 1: And I would.
Speaker 1: I'm just, I'm just really happy that you asked that question.
Speaker 1: I was, I was counting on it.
Speaker 1: In fact, because I have three thoughts for us on that thought.
Speaker 1: Number one is this, all relationships are as strong as the unity developed all relationships.
Speaker 1: Unity means being joined as a whole.
Speaker 1: It means that you can't get one without the other.
Speaker 1: Jesus said, no, man can come to the father except through me.
Speaker 1: So if you don't accept me, you don't get the father.
Speaker 1: If you get the father, it's because you've got me too.
Speaker 1: You might say to me, well, Hey, I want you to be a friend in my life, but I don't care much about what Christie has to say about things.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to say you're out of luck because anytime I don't know what I think I just asked Christie,
Speaker 3: If you don't know
Speaker 1: If she's my wife and, and you don't get me, if you don't get Christie, that's how it is.
Speaker 1: And you don't get her.
Speaker 1: If you don't get me, when you get one, you get both because God has joined us together.
Speaker 1: It's about being a whole consider every relational breakdown.
Speaker 1: If the family experiences of the couple experiences divorce and the family breaks down, it didn't start with divorce.
Speaker 1: Patient was being served.
Speaker 1: It didn't begin with an affair.
Speaker 1: Those things are products of a problem in the marriage.
Speaker 1: When you think about kids being estranged from their parents, we're a family of kids and parents don't talk to one another anymore.
Speaker 1: They're not in one another's life that didn't happen overnight.
Speaker 1: Businesses don't end and business relationships don't end because of one problem or one issue or, or one bad decision.
Speaker 1: In fact, even churches, churches, don't split over one bad song or one issue that somebody didn't like, or somebody took somebody else's seat in a particular service.
Speaker 1: And so therefore everybody's all whacked out.
Speaker 1: No, that doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: In fact, every one of these situations, the break down begins with a breakdown of unity.
Speaker 1: When unity begins to dissolve, that's when the problem really begins.
Speaker 1: That's why Jesus prays for unity of the believer.
Speaker 1: I believe completely that the strong local church is the hope of the world.
Speaker 1: I believe that with all of my heart, that's why I do what I do.
Speaker 1: It's the mechanism that God created to bring the gospel to the world.
Speaker 1: Jesus is praying and he's giving over to the church, the mission that he began, he he's, he's praying to the father, keep them unified, just like we are unified, but that need for unity.
Speaker 1: Doesn't stop.
Speaker 1: Or doesn't end.
Speaker 1: When we walk out of the doors of the church, you walk out of the door of the church and, and you need unity in your car.
Speaker 1: As you're driving home.
Speaker 1: Can somebody say air, man, you, you, you know, I've driven to church having a full on argument with Christie and I get out of the truck and, and it's like, Hey, praise the Lord
Speaker 2: Brother.
Speaker 2: How you doing?
Speaker 2: You have to,
Speaker 1: And then we get in the truck and pick up right where we left off.
Speaker 2: And amen.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you what you did and why you sent it on that.
Speaker 1: It's yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't actually talk like that.
Speaker 2: Just so you know,
Speaker 1: Unity.
Speaker 1: We need unity in our families because families and individuals choosing to worship together, that is the local church, local business and local industry fuel the economy that empower those individuals in those families, the community around us is reached by those making up the local church.
Speaker 1: All of it is working together and, and fitting together and building together.
Speaker 1: And the breakdown of unity is detrimental to all of us, detrimental to all of every area of life.
Speaker 1: And you may have heard the phrase, well, the chain is as strong as the weakest link.
Speaker 1: So that means you can pull that chain and that chain we'll stay together and we'll stay strong until you reach the capacity of the weakest link in the chain, and then it breaks apart.
Speaker 1: But here's what I would say when dealing with people, whether it be friends or family or businesses or church, wherever it may be the family, the group, the team, the church, the friendship is as strong as its dedication to unity.
Speaker 1: It's as strong as its dedication to unity.
Speaker 1: So whenever, wherever, and with whomever, the dedication to unity begins to abate, then adjustments must be made or it's going to be detrimental to the whole, the whole will suffer.
Speaker 1: So, so what do we do?
Speaker 1: What do we do if we want to build unity?
Speaker 1: And in this sermon today, I'm setting the table for the rest of this, this series, because we've got to understand what it is we're engaged in and thought number two is that unity is a choice.
Speaker 1: It's a choice.
Speaker 1: It's a choice made by everybody involved.
Speaker 1: We unified by choice.
Speaker 1: Nobody can demand your friendship.
Speaker 1: I've never had anybody come up to me and say, I am going to be my friend.
Speaker 1: You are going to be my friend.
Speaker 1: We are going to love one another.
Speaker 1: And that's just how it is.
Speaker 1: It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 1: I mean, you might say it, but then I'm going to call the police.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to say, we've got a problem with that person.
Speaker 1: And they will make you go away.
Speaker 4: They will.
Speaker 1: So, so that can, I have never stood at a, at an altar with a couple where, one of what I said, do you take this man to be your husband?
Speaker 1: Do you take this woman to be your life wife?
Speaker 1: And one of them said, you know what?
Speaker 1: I'm being forced to be here.
Speaker 1: I don't, I don't even want to be here.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I guess that's never happened.
Speaker 1: We enter into those relationships by choice.
Speaker 1: We don't demand and cannot command people to go into business with us.
Speaker 1: Nobody's forcing you to accept employment from that company, that person, we, we enter into these unified relationships by choice.
Speaker 1: And when things are good, it's gratifying.
Speaker 1: When you walk into the house and the whole family's together, and man, the kids love you and you love them.
Speaker 1: And your spouse is like, Oh, this is awesome.
Speaker 1: Or your friends are there and everything's going good.
Speaker 1: And then, then there's nothing more beautiful than that.
Speaker 1: More gratifying you come in and you're like, Oh, this is what life's all about.
Speaker 1: When you walk into that business and, and you sit down, whether you're the owner or you're an employee, and, but you're in that relationship and everything's cooking.
Speaker 1: I mean, you got a couple emails and some phone calls to make, but, but you know, everything's going, like it's supposed to in you're, you're hitting all the right numbers and everything's working like it's supposed to, then it's satisfying and you go, wow.
Speaker 1: I just, um, this is awesome.
Speaker 1: I'm made for this.
Speaker 1: This is, this is working.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 1: It's good.
Speaker 1: When, when the church, when you come into church and they sing every song that you like at the exact volume level that you love and, and, and they don't sing anything or do anything that you don't like.
Speaker 1: And then the preacher gives the sermon that you sent them the notes too.
Speaker 1: I mean, it cannot get better than this.
Speaker 1: And when all of that's happened, you are cooking.
Speaker 1: It is, it is so gratifying in is beautiful.
Speaker 1: But how many of us know it doesn't always work that way.
Speaker 1: It doesn't always go good.
Speaker 1: And so now you're in a unified situation where it was gratifying, but now that friendship hits some difficult conversations and they didn't go the way that you wanted them to, or that marriage had some tough times.
Speaker 1: And it's a little awkward.
Speaker 1: I know people that have driven around the block five times before they pull into their driveway, just getting up the courage to, to walk in that front door.
Speaker 1: It just didn't work the way you thought it was going to companies have ups and downs and people's opinions and situations shift.
Speaker 1: And so it can be difficult.
Speaker 1: Churches, experience, cultural shifts, things, change things.
Speaker 1: Don't, don't remain the way that they've always been.
Speaker 1: And so, and so it can become disconcerting.
Speaker 1: It can, it can become stretching and, and it can become uncomfortable at times, hard times.
Speaker 1: And places of unity are hard.
Speaker 1: They're frustrating.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because you care, you care about them deeply.
Speaker 1: That's why you were unified with them in the first place.
Speaker 1: And so now something's not going the way that you thought it would and it hurts.
Speaker 1: And it's, it's tough.
Speaker 1: But regardless of the situation, unity is always a choice.
Speaker 1: It's always a choice.
Speaker 1: You never have to leave.
Speaker 1: You never have to separate.
Speaker 1: You never have to abandon the friendship, the spouse, the family unit.
Speaker 1: You don't have to do those things.
Speaker 1: It is just, it is rather your choice.
Speaker 1: Now I get questions and I I'm where every time I talk about this kind of stuff, I get questions about this.
Speaker 1: And, and people ask me questions like, well, Shanghai, you have left that situation.
Speaker 1: Should I have left them?
Speaker 1: I have left that marriage should I've left that company.
Speaker 1: Should I've left that church.
Speaker 1: Should I have left where I have come from?
Speaker 1: Or it's something that happened in my past?
Speaker 1: Should I go back to them?
Speaker 1: I want to be very clear on something.
Speaker 1: If there's an abusive situation, you should never have to go back to that straight up.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: Um, and then number two, I would say that we can always second guess the decisions that have been made in life.
Speaker 1: And, and I've had people say to me, I wish I had not done what I did 20 years ago, but, but I did well, here's my encouragement to you today.
Speaker 1: Instead of maybe there's somebody that you need to apologize to.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's something that you can get as right as it can be and get it right in your own heart.
Speaker 1: But here's my encouragement.
Speaker 1: Make it right from today.
Speaker 1: Decide today.
Speaker 1: I'm going to walk in unity with my, with my family.
Speaker 1: I'm walk.
Speaker 1: I'm going to walk in unity with my friendships, with my business, with my church, I'm going to build unity in those areas of my life.
Speaker 1: Let's be as intentional about building unity in these areas of life.
Speaker 1: As we are about other things in life.
Speaker 1: If we were as intentional about building unity, as we are about many other things, we would be a more unified country, a more unified church, a more unified family, a more unified community, a more unified everything.
Speaker 1: So my encouragement is today say I choose unity today.
Speaker 1: And that brings us to thought, number three, that unity is consistently intentional, consistently intentional.
Speaker 1: We intentionally choose it and we intentionally maintain it because here's the thing about unity.
Speaker 1: It's not a choice that you make today and never have to think about again.
Speaker 1: We don't say, Oh, I'm unified today.
Speaker 1: Therefore, I never have to worry about being unified again.
Speaker 1: I am unified.
Speaker 1: That's it?
Speaker 1: We done doesn't happen that way.
Speaker 1: If that were true, we'd never have a divorce.
Speaker 1: If that were to, we'd never have a breakup of friendship.
Speaker 1: If that was true, we would never have a split of a church.
Speaker 1: If that was true, we would never have a departure of any relationship.
Speaker 1: It doesn't remain naturally because that thing that you walked into and it was new and it was fresh.
Speaker 1: It becomes normal.
Speaker 1: After a while.
Speaker 1: In fact, we have people to come to church sometimes and they say things like, man, I'm never been to a church that says awesome.
Speaker 1: As this church, I'm never had a pastor as, as divinely inspired by you.
Speaker 1: Like you, as soon as people tell me that I'm thinking you're not going to be here very
Speaker 3: Long,
Speaker 1: Because what's going to happen is a little while later often what we hear is, you know, I think this church should be more like the place I left.
Speaker 1: I think I shouldn't do it.
Speaker 1: Shouldn't we think about changing it like that.
Speaker 1: And shouldn't we think about changing it like this shouldn't we think about
Speaker 3: [inaudible]
Speaker 1: That's what happens.
Speaker 1: That's what happens because what, because what was fresh and new and exciting becomes normal
Speaker 2: And routine.
Speaker 2: And over time,
Speaker 1: The weight of the reality shifts, young people that are in the room right now.
Speaker 1: I'm not, I'm not dismissing.
Speaker 1: I'm not minimizing.
Speaker 1: I'm not doing anything negative to the situations that you're in right now.
Speaker 1: But let me just say, as we get older, the weight of the situations we carry
Speaker 2: It's heavier.
Speaker 2: It typically affects more people.
Speaker 1: I it's, it's more impacting across ed.
Speaker 1: So, or we just understand the gravity of it more than we did years ago.
Speaker 2: And so the thing you're dealing
Speaker 1: With right now is the heaviest thing you're carrying to date.
Speaker 1: But I unfortunately am going to tell you that it will probably get heavier as you go forward in life.
Speaker 1: And so the heavier something gets
Speaker 2: It's the, the, the more we have to consistently maintain and choose unity.
Speaker 2: And it seems like at some point
Speaker 1: It might just be easier to walk away because the situation
Speaker 2: [inaudible] is so, so heavy.
Speaker 1: I'm going to, I'm going to say something here.
Speaker 1: It's going to be on the screens.
Speaker 1: And I encourage you write it down or take a picture of the screen, because this is the thing that you've got to get more than anything else today.
Speaker 1: I hope when unity breaks down, we blame the weight of our condition versus the state
Speaker 2: Of our heart.
Speaker 1: When unity breaks down, we blame the weight of our condition versus the state of our heart.
Speaker 1: And it makes sense
Speaker 2: Because things can get heavy.
Speaker 2: Now, this,
Speaker 1: This right here is really not that heavy.
Speaker 1: Most of us are a toddler could come grab this by the end and drag it around.
Speaker 1: But Tim and Amy, would you come help me with this real quick, just run up here real fast.
Speaker 1: And so here I am, I'm feeling strong.
Speaker 1: I can carry this.
Speaker 1: I can curl this.
Speaker 1: I can, I can move this around.
Speaker 1: That's not a problem in man.
Speaker 1: If I can unify one of you get on this side and, uh, Amy, come get on this side.
Speaker 1: And so, I mean, with the three of us, this is not a problem at all.
Speaker 2: We, we are good.
Speaker 2: This is light.
Speaker 2: This is easy, but here's the problem.
Speaker 1: We think the lighter, the situation, the easier it becomes to handle, but, and that's true.
Speaker 1: But if we're not in unity, the weight of the situation, isn't going to change the problem.
Speaker 1: Amy, I want you to walk that way.
Speaker 1: Tim walked that way and I'm going to walk forward.
Speaker 1: No, no, no.
Speaker 1: Hold onto this.
Speaker 1: Cause we're cause we're unified here.
Speaker 1: So you walk that way.
Speaker 1: He's walking that way.
Speaker 1: I'm walking this way.
Speaker 1: Now this is a light.
Speaker 1: This is a light issue.
Speaker 1: This is not a heavy situation, but because we're not unified, we all over the place,
Speaker 2: We've got a problem because the situation is light.
Speaker 2: We could easily handle it, but we're not unified in it.
Speaker 2: So we think, well, if the situation would change, then we'd be better.
Speaker 2: The problem isn't the situation.
Speaker 2: The problem is the unity, because here's, here's another reality.
Speaker 2: Everything's not so light.
Speaker 2: And technically
Speaker 3: I can pick it up technically, but it's heavy.
Speaker 2: And if I had some unity, come on
Speaker 3: [inaudible]
Speaker 2: Then it would really help me out.
Speaker 2: And now, now we together unified.
Speaker 2: We could walk this out.
Speaker 2: We could, we could step forward.
Speaker 2: We could step backward.
Speaker 2: We can go side to side.
Speaker 2: Y'all didn't know y'all are going to dance up here with me.
Speaker 2: This is, there's a line dancing.
Speaker 2: I don't know a thing about line dancing, but we think, well, if it's lighter, no, even the heaviest of things, unity makes the heavy weight bearable.
Speaker 2: We can handle the heavyweight.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter what God's called us to do.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter how heavy it is.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter how heavy the circumstance in our home is in our business, in life with our kids in our church.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter how heavy it is if we are unified in it.
Speaker 2: But if we lack unity, it doesn't matter how light it is.
Speaker 2: We're going to fall apart.
Speaker 2: Thank you all very much.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Would you mind putting that back there for me?
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I can't do everything on my own and neither can you, I can't do it on my own and my family.
Speaker 2: I can't do it on all my own in my, with my friendships.
Speaker 2: We can't do it on our own.
Speaker 2: With this church in our world, things have shifted.
Speaker 2: The pandemic has, has separated people that have never been separated before politics pulling people apart.
Speaker 2: I friends and know people who aren't even aren't talking to family members or friends that they've had for years because of political disagreements.
Speaker 2: I see churches that are struggling to reassemble and come back together.
Speaker 2: I talked to two pastors all over the place who, who some are saying, Hey, this is a great time.
Speaker 2: And others are saying, I don't know if we're going to survive.
Speaker 2: This.
Speaker 2: The weight is heavy.
Speaker 2: The weight is heavy and Jesus praise father, let them be one.
Speaker 2: Even as we are one, our church, I'm blessed to say five lakes, churches, continuing to grow and develop and expand.
Speaker 2: We have, we have growth track going on today.
Speaker 2: And we got people signed up to say, Hey, I want to check out what it means to be a member of this congregation.
Speaker 2: And some are online and some are in person.
Speaker 2: And it's an awesome thing to be part of.
Speaker 2: And I encourage you.
Speaker 2: It's in the next service, 1230.
Speaker 2: It starts in the fellowship hall.
Speaker 2: And, and if you're interested in that, check it out.
Speaker 2: I'm blessed.
Speaker 2: But God has called us to big things as a church.
Speaker 2: I believe God has called our community to big things, but God can do big things in this church or our community.
Speaker 2: If he doesn't do big things in you and in me.
Speaker 2: And so in this series, we're going to be talking about what does it mean to build unity in your family and your business in this church as a community?
Speaker 2: What does it mean to build unity?
Speaker 2: One another scripture reveals God's priorities.
Speaker 2: In, in short, you see Jesus prioritizing salvation from sin over his own life and comfort.
Speaker 2: He's saying that matters more than this.
Speaker 2: It's revealing God's priorities.
Speaker 2: And Jesus says, bye.
Speaker 2: All righty that I have father for them to achieve the things that I've put before them, they must lost be unified.
Speaker 2: And so father, I pray today for us as a body for us as families, for us as children of God.
Speaker 2: I pray for us right now that we would be unified before you unified in.
Speaker 2: You unified with you, that we would prioritize the things that you prioritize, that we would live out.
Speaker 2: The things that you've set before us.
Speaker 2: I pray Lord God, that we would not be focused on the circumstance because we can handle it.
Speaker 2: Any weight, any weight that comes upon us when we're unified in your purpose, I'll give you thanks for your people.
Speaker 2: I'll pray for families right now.
Speaker 2: I pray for businesses.
Speaker 2: I pray, Lord God for teams, uh, pray for our community.
Speaker 2: I pray for our nation.
Speaker 2: That unity would come, that we would choose it, that we would walk in and that we would intentionally maintain it.
Speaker 2: That your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Speaker 2: I give you thanks and praise for that mighty God in the awesome name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: And if that's your prayer today, would you say, amen?
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 2: Let's stand up our feet right now.
Speaker 2: Prayer partners.
Speaker 2: Would you come forward?
Speaker 2: We're going to close and worship.
Speaker 2: If you need prayer for anything, come forward and let us pray.