WEBVTT 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.720 Hey everybody, I am so grateful to be with you all this weekend. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:11.039 Hello to all campuses. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:20.480 I love my Gateway family, and I'm excited about this contribution I get to make to this series, Love Thy Neighbor. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:27.839 And so we're talking about some things that may be uncomfortable for you, but I think we're gonna grow as a result. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:36.560 And there's some resources that we have available for you around uh what we're dealing with as it relates to racism and injustice. 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:53.200 You can go to gatewaypeople.com slash unity and you can hear testimonials, stories from people, and uh get a fuller picture of how you can help us extend the love of Christ to all people. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:01:00.799 So if you have your Bibles, I want you to open them to Ephesians chapter number two, the book of Ephesians, chapter number two. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:06.480 I want to read uh 14 through 18 in your hearing, and then I'll give you the title of the message, and then we'll pray, okay? 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:11.920 So Ephesians chapter number two, starting at the 14th verse, it says this. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:15.680 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:25.519 He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:30.640 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:39.040 He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:50.640 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:58.799 He brought this good news of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:10.159 Now, all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:11.039 So good. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:16.879 And so uh, if you're taking notes on this message, the title of this message is Is there one? 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:21.360 It's a question I want to answer today. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:25.120 Is there one? 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:28.000 Bow your hands, let's pray real quick, shall we? 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:30.000 Holy Spirit, make us one. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:31.599 Amen. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:36.240 I grew up in uh Pentecostal church. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:43.199 I grew up in a very expressive uh environment of praise, worship, and preaching. 00:02:43.360 --> 00:03:03.120 Uh and at the end of uh every sermon, as the preacher came in for his clothes with a soft voice and the organ playing ever so lightly, he would ask this question as a setup to his salvation call. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:04.960 Is there one? 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:15.680 Is there one that, in response to the message that you've heard, would be open to dedicating your life to Jesus Christ? 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:17.759 Is there one? 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:29.680 Is there one who has had their heart convicted by the Holy Spirit to drop the way you have been living and pick up the way that you should be living? 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.159 Is there one? 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:44.400 Now, as I was studying for this message, the Holy Spirit reminded me of this question because I think it's a question that we need to answer in our church today. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.000 Is there one? 00:03:49.039 --> 00:04:00.800 We're addressing some uh very uncomfortable uh conversation, but very courageous conversation that needs to happen about uh around racism and injustice. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:12.800 I grew up in Los Angeles, California, in a city called Inglewood, and uh I experienced racism because racism is nothing more than a subcategory of the spirit of division. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:21.120 If you understand this as a believer, you understand that it's the spirit of division that has many different subcategories, and racism is one of them. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:23.920 I experienced that uh in California growing up. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:33.360 I remember uh playing with my friend uh uh in the neighborhood, and he he lived at the end of the block. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:35.040 His grandfather's name was Toby. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:39.360 Toby used to always allow us uh to play in his Jeep in the front yard. 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:45.120 Uh but one day my friend and I went into Toby's house, his grandfather, uh, to go get a glass of water. 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:49.759 We went in there, we ran in, just get a glass of water and come back out and play in the street some more. 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:57.600 I ran out, uh, and I thought my friend was right behind me, but a few minutes later he came out, and I thought, well, what's wrong? 00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:59.279 How come you didn't come out right behind me? 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:01.360 And he had this stunned look on his face. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:04.639 Remember, we're about 10 or 11 years old. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:10.319 He looked at me and he said, Tim, you can't come back in the house. 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:14.720 And I thought, okay, well, maybe we were too loud. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:18.399 Maybe your grandfather got a little bit angry because we were too loud when we ran in. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:19.680 And he said, No. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:29.040 He said, um, uh, my grandfather said um that he doesn't want any niggers in his house. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:52.800 This was my very first time being exposed to overt racism when I was 10 or 11 years old, uh, playing with my white friend, but going into his grandfather's house and understanding that his grandfather had a different perspective of me than he had of his own grandson. 00:05:53.839 --> 00:06:00.079 I remember dating a young girl uh uh in junior high who I thought was pretty and it was puppy love. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:14.319 Uh she was Hispanic, I was black, and um her friends, Hispanic friends, called her a mud shark for dating a black guy. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:24.079 So I just want you to understand something that racism doesn't just go black and white, it would go black and whatever, it would go white and whatever, it would go Asian and whatever, it will go anywhere because it's a spirit. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:28.639 Spirits are pervasive, and anybody can be influenced by them. 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:32.079 We understand that America has a racism problem. 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:34.800 So, so why are we bringing this up in the church? 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:41.839 That oh, not not the church is fine, it's what's going on out there that's the problem, but in here we're okay. 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:43.920 But are we? 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:48.319 Is there one? 00:06:49.439 --> 00:07:14.800 The reason why we have to be having this conversation today is because um I know for a fact that uh there are people that carry uh racism and prejudice in their hearts, and it may not even be at the surface of their mind consciously, but deep down on the inside, they might not even know that they're carrying some of these perspectives and beliefs. 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:22.879 I toured with uh Josh McDowell for two years, uh, between 2004 and 2006, uh uh during his bold truth tour. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:29.839 If you don't know Josh McDowell, he's a great Christian apologist, and he's put out some great uh uh uh books throughout the years. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.480 The biggest, chunkiest book was called Evidence That Demands a Verdict. 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:54.879 Well, for two years, we were on a converted tour bus that used to belong to Leanne Rhymes, and we drove through the heartland of America to preach the gospel to young people and uh from an apologist's perspective, give them uh the truth of Jesus Christ being the Messiah. 00:07:55.199 --> 00:08:18.079 What we found out on these trips through Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Tupelo, Mississippi, and uh Tennessee and Wyoming and Billings, Montana, and South Dakota is there were a lot of people that claimed Jesus as Lord that were racist. 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:24.240 And this is why we're talking about it in church today. 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:26.720 It's because it's not just out there. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:33.279 In a lot of places it's also in the church. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:42.080 I had never been uh more exposed to overt racism than I did during the two years that I was on the road with Josh. 00:08:42.240 --> 00:09:08.559 In 90% of the places where we went to go preach the gospel to young people, Josh and the team, because I was the only black person uh on the tour with him, Josh and the team had to apologize to me in 90% of the places that we went to go present the gospel, because they even saw how overt the attitudes were towards me. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:27.200 Now, we go to scripture because a lot of times when we're only talking about what's happening in the world, um, we lose context on what God's perspective is on a situation. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:49.759 So the reason why I read you uh this passage is because uh Paul, who is a Jewish man, is writing to Gentiles, and he is telling these Gentiles uh that because of the work that Jesus Christ has done on the cross, they are no longer second-class citizens uh in the kingdom. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:59.840 They are no longer uh far from God, but they are as close to God as a man that has Jewish heritage. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:19.039 And so uh there is this beautiful, succinct way that Paul communicates to the Gentile believers that they are a part of the faith that was promised to Abraham and his descendants. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:23.279 And he literally makes two one. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:33.200 Jesus in his broken body on the cross literally makes two groups of people one group of people. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:36.399 And I want to break down through you through three points. 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:38.080 You know, we shoot three pointers here. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:48.159 I want to break down for you through three three points how God made two people, two groups of people become one. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:50.879 And so the two became one. 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:52.879 Point number one, please write this down. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:57.279 Because Jesus broke down the wall. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:02.960 The two became one because Jesus broke down the wall. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:07.600 Here's what it says in Ephesians chapter number two, verse number 14. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:10.960 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:12.080 Let me just stop right there. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:13.360 Ooh, that's so good. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.639 Christ himself has brought peace to us. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:21.440 Not peace that's been dropped off in something that we're supposed to hold. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:24.960 The Prince of Peace brought himself to us. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:34.559 Christ knew that the only way to end any hostility between people was to bring himself to us. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:38.559 So the Prince of Peace brought his peace to us. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:45.279 And it's not something that he dropped off, it's something that he brought that's supposed to stay with us for eternity. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:12:00.240 For Christ himself has brought peace to us, he united Jews and Gentiles into one people when in his own body on the cross he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:10.879 Now you gotta understand this context because this is a Jewish man writing to Gentiles about the separation, the wall of hostility being brought down. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:30.080 We understand that the laws that were given to uh the Jewish people and how they were supposed to conduct themselves, being set apart from any other nationality in the rest of the world, they had strict guidelines that they were supposed to adhere to as it related to obeying the law. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:34.000 Now, a lot of people think that Jesus came to do away with the law. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:34.960 That is not true. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:36.879 I'll address that in the next point. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:42.879 But but Paul makes it very, very clear there was a wall of hostility between us. 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:48.720 And that wall of hostility was removed by Jesus' broken body on the cross. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:50.799 Now, I need you to see this from heaven's perspective. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:59.279 From heaven's perspective, all God has ever seen when he looks down on the earth is those he chose and everybody else. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:01.120 I need you to get that. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:08.320 From God's perspective, when he looks over the balcony of heaven, he sees those that are in covenant with him and everybody else. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:12.480 The Jewish people are the ones that had covenant with him and everybody else. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:14.399 So what makes a Gentile a Gentile? 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:16.559 The fact that they're not Jewish. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:22.639 He saw those that he went into covenant with, he said, These are my people, and who are the rest of the people? 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:23.840 They are everybody else. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:25.200 They are Gentile. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:30.879 The Jews are near me, the Gentiles are far from me. 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:52.480 And there's a wall of hostility that was built up over thousands of years because the Jews had to stay separate in their fidelity to God, and now we have Gentiles that believe in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, and they went into the party. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:14:02.399 And Paul uses his Jewish privilege to make sure that Gentiles have equal rights in the kingdom of God. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:04.720 And he says, listen, we're equal now. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:13.840 Whatever wall of hostility that was there in Christ's own broken body on the cross, he has removed the hostility between Jew and Gentile. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.159 So here's a question I want to ask us. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:26.799 If that wall of hostility was removed between Jew and Gentile, then there's no way that there can be a wall of hostility between black and white. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:43.039 There's no way that there could be a wall of hostility between Native American and Hispanic, between Southeast Asian and Croatian, between a Singaporean and a Cuban. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:57.279 If the wall of hostility has been brought down through the broken body of Jesus Christ, then we as the church have to look at each other and say, whatever was there is no longer there. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:04.480 Not because of something we have done, but because of something he has done. 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:06.000 Oh, that's so good. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:08.480 That should make everybody happy. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:10.720 Like, like everybody should go get a passport. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:14.559 If you haven't had a passport, here's what the kingdom of God is saying to you. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:17.759 You are free to roam about the country. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:20.799 You are free to roam about the world. 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:26.960 The walls of hostility have come down for believers in Jesus Christ. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:35.360 Because in his own broken body, Jew and Gentile had their hostility removed. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:58.000 The only way I can interpret this text for us, those of us that believe in Jesus who happen to live in America, is that a black and white issue cannot be something that divides us when the wall of hostility has been torn down by his body. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:00.799 Point number two, please write this down. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:06.480 The two became one because Jesus created a new group. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:16.240 The two became one because Jesus created a new group. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:20.639 Here's what it says in Ephesians chapter number two, verse number 15. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:27.759 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:32.480 Now again, when I when when you read this, here's how a lot of people interpret it. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:41.039 No, Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:46.960 According to Matthew chapter number 5, 17, Jesus is the literal fulfillment of the law. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:55.919 A better way uh to articulate that is that Jesus filled himself up with the law. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.679 He is the Torah, he filled himself up with it. 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:11.680 His body filled up the pages of the Torah, and he walked among us to show us more clearly how to walk out this beautiful, glorious law. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:17.440 So if it says he's torn down the law with its with its systems and its regulations, what was torn down? 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:23.920 What was torn down were the ordinances that were communicated around such laws. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:32.799 The ordinances and the and and the regulations that that uh some of the rabbis put around the actual laws that God told them to do. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:40.480 Jesus never broke any of the laws of the Torah, he just broke all the rules and regulations that the rabbis put around those laws. 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:53.519 So when Paul, a Jewish man, says that he ended the system of law with his commandments and his regulations, he's not talking about breaking up the Torah. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:59.839 He's talking about breaking up the conversations around the Torah. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:12.160 He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:13.920 That's so good, I gotta read that again. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:21.920 He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:24.480 Here's why this verse is so important. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:44.480 Because I think Jesus knew uh we were gonna be in this uh uh crazy uh scenario we find ourselves now uh in this country where where there where there's so much uh division around racism, there's so much division around uh injustice. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:50.079 And it seems like we can't even get people to just agree on what is sin. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:55.680 Jesus says, I I know that that you guys are no good without me. 00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:04.079 I've come to be peace myself, not to just bring you something and drop it up, but by myself, with myself, bring peace to you. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:06.000 And here's what I want you to know. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:20.079 Um, since you guys are going all crazy with with with all this division and this black over here, and it's white over here, and it's Hispanic over here, and it's Asian over here, and it's Native American over here, and it's Russian over here, and it's and it's this over here, and it's this over there. 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:25.519 I want to fix this, and I want to fix it in the most simplistic way I can. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:27.759 All of you all get in me. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:35.599 Don't stay out there with your individual individualistic uh idea of who you are. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:37.680 I want you to get in me. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:51.359 In my body, I'm creating a new group of people, so there is no longer Jew or Gentile, black or white, slave or free, male or female. 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:54.880 Stop identifying yourself outside of me. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:20:01.039 Get in me and just be what I want you to be, the church. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:07.599 Be my church. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:09.359 Amen, Jesus. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:10.240 I'll be your church. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:12.799 I'm gonna be the best black church I can be. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:14.640 I did not ask you to do that. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:17.200 Be my church. 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:18.160 Amen, Jesus. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:18.720 I will do that. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:20.480 I'm gonna be the best white church I can be. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:22.240 I did not ask you to do that. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:24.960 Be my church. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:25.839 Amen, Jesus. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:28.559 I'm gonna be the best Spanish church that the world has ever seen. 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:30.160 I didn't ask you to do that. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:40.799 Because anything you're putting in front of my church to describe my church is the idol you've made in my church. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:44.559 There can't be a black church. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:49.359 According to Scripture, there can't be a white church, can't be a Spanish church. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:50.640 Now, now nobody's blind. 00:20:50.720 --> 00:21:10.079 We can see when a church is predominantly one ethnicity, but based on what the text says, you don't get to label that church based on your ethnicity, you only get to label it based on his identity. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:21.839 We are the church of Jesus Christ, and we need to get back to what scripture says we are to identify ourselves as. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:23.599 And let me tell you why this is so important. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:30.559 Because there's so much of America's culture that has crept into the Lord's churches in this country. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:35.119 This is why we describe white church and black church and Spanish church and this church and that church. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:35.519 Why? 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:44.640 Because America is the greatest country in the world that can simultaneously remind you of who you are and who you are not at the same time. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:56.880 Socially, economically, financially, educationally, you can be reminded all day based on the zip codes you live in and the stores you shop at, who you are and who you are not. 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.680 And Christ says, I want to fix all that, just jump in me. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:12.960 There's so many different dividing walls that we want to have up in this country that separate us from each other, and this is why we're calling people back to kingdom principles. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:16.720 Because it's too much division. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:21.519 The enemy is the master of division. 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:25.200 If he was going to be your math teacher, the only thing he would teach is division. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:28.880 Oh, two people in the same room? 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:29.839 Okay, great. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.920 Um, I gotta divide you. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:34.000 Well, it's two white people in the same room. 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:38.480 That's cool, but he has blonde hair and blue eyes, and he has red hair and green eyes, divide. 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:44.000 Oh, two more people came in the room where this one's skinny and this one's a little bit chubby, divide. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:45.759 Bring two more people in the room. 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:48.480 Well, this one's shorter than that person, divide. 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:51.839 That's all the enemy knows how to do is divide. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:57.279 But what the enemy came to divide, Christ came to unify. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:08.160 And so he in his own body makes two groups, one group, and he paid for that with his own blood. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:12.480 So is there one? 00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:15.519 This is an open book test. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:16.960 I hope you can answer it. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:18.799 Is there one? 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:28.079 Because Christ paid an extravagant price to make sure that there would be one. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:40.720 And my hope is that we get back centered to scripture on how we're gonna describe ourselves to the world. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:54.480 Listen, I love the fact that we're doing this series because when we get this calibration, we can be the type of people that the world looks at and goes, how in the world are y'all all good in there and it's all crazy out here? 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:59.359 Well, it's because uh God created a new group. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:11.200 And it's not Democrat, it's not Republican, it is not black, it is not white, it's not Jew, it is not Gentile. 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:29.039 He created in his own body a new group of people where we could lay down everything we described ourselves as and pick up the only thing we should identify as. 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:34.880 And that is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:38.000 Point number three. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:44.240 The two became one because Jesus reconciled all. 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:52.000 The two became one because Jesus reconciled all. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:58.559 Here's what it says, and I want you to please pay attention to the order that this is communicated in. 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:03.599 Ephesians 2, 16 says this together as one body. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:17.359 Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility towards each other was put to death. 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:18.559 Let me say that again. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:27.920 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to whom? 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:29.440 To God. 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:36.000 By means of his death on the cross. 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:46.960 And as a result of that, our hostility toward each other was put to death. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:49.599 This is something that we really need to get. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:59.440 Christ and his broken body on the cross takes two groups of people, those that are chosen and everybody else, Jews and Gentiles. 00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:05.039 And and and just you who, just in case you didn't know, uh, if you're not Jewish, you're a Gentile. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:08.000 It just I just wanted to clear that up, just in case you had no idea. 00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:09.279 Well, who's a Gentile? 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:10.079 You are. 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:16.880 If you cannot trace your lineage back to Abraham, you're a Gentile. 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:22.480 And that's mostly what uh I'm addressing is Gentiles right now. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:34.319 Some Jewish, some Messianic Jewish uh believers as well, but the majority of this is between us Gentiles, black and white Gentiles in this country, trying to figure it out. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:41.519 But there's a distinction here that I think is uh noteworthy. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:47.680 Jesus, through his broken body on the cross, brings these two groups to God to be reconciled. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:54.799 Not to each other to be reconciled, to God to be reconciled. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:59.759 Now let me say this, and um, this might make you uncomfortable, but just give me a moment. 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:06.240 Uh there is no such thing as racial reconciliation as we picture it in our minds. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:19.359 I understand what we are trying to say when we make the term, but by definition, racial reconciliation between black people and white people in this country uh is a pipe dream. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:32.960 It's not something that's attainable because to be reconciled means to restore to a previous relationship, and that's something that white people and black people did not have in the origins of this country. 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:38.000 Slave owners owned slaves. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:42.000 They were their work force, they were their labor force. 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.319 We can't reconcile that. 00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:55.279 I'll go further to say that all the things that we're trying to do for unity cannot happen if we just come directly to each other. 00:27:55.599 --> 00:27:58.240 We've got to go to God first. 00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:13.759 Only when we are reconciled to each other can the uh only when we are reconciled to God can we be uh uh uh done away with the hostility towards each other. 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:21.440 Uh my my sons love each other on most days and then they hate each other uh every other day. 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:33.920 And uh in my house, um when they're playing around, uh they will uh get mad at each other and yell at each other, and I usually let most of it go. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:41.359 Until it gets so high uh that I have to say, Nathan, Noah, come here. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:55.359 And they run into my room, and once they get into my room in my presence, they realize, oh snap, we shouldn't have been fighting because it got my dad's attention. 00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:07.359 And now that I'm in the room with my dad and I'm reconciled back to my relationship between father and son, I realize that this is actually my brother. 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:09.920 Could it be? 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:23.839 That the reason why um uh this spirit uh is still attached to so many churches is because uh while you may be in the house of God, you may not be in the same room as your father. 00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:40.559 And only when you come back in the room where your father is, that's where you will see who your brother is, who your sister is. 00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:48.319 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility towards each other was put to death. 00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:55.200 Listen, I am a black dude from Southern California, Inglewood, the Hood. 00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:01.119 And I got a revelation of what that verse meant. 00:30:02.319 --> 00:30:16.400 That God has reconciled me to himself through his son's death on the cross, and by virtue of that, my hostility with anybody else that calls himself a believer has been put to death. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:18.240 Do you know what that meant? 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:21.839 That meant I got to hang out with more than just black people. 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:34.240 I got to hang out with some white people, some Australian people, some people from England, some people from Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Canada, Singapore. 00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:39.039 I cannot tell you how many stamps I have in my passport because of this verse. 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:43.279 He ended the hostility, he put it to death. 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:58.799 Therefore, I have the greatest fraternity and sorority on the planet, and it's the Church of Jesus Christ, and I'm not giving it up for hostility with my brother. 00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:04.960 I will not give that up to be mad at my sister. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:10.319 I will not give that up because I might disagree a little bit with your politics. 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:21.759 I will not give that up because I I don't like how long your worship is, or I don't like the style of worship that you use. 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:34.640 He's ended the hostility for a reason because he's trying to reset us back to one. 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:38.160 Dr. 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:39.519 Martin Luther King Jr. 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:40.720 said that 11 a.m. 00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:47.119 was the most segregated hour in America on Sunday morning. 00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:52.559 He said that about 57, 58 years ago. 00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:56.880 This is a thought that I just had, and just pontificate with me. 00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:00.799 Perhaps, perhaps the reason why God sent us all home. 00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:03.519 Get out of my church for a minute. 00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:04.640 Go home. 00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:09.039 I want you to inspect your heart. 00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:25.279 And when you come back, whenever it is we come back, no longer should you be surprised to see who shows up in this space. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:31.759 No longer should you be surprised by who worships or preaches from this platform. 00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:42.799 Maybe he sent us all home so that we can recalibrate our hearts and come back with the only mindset that we need to have. 00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:44.240 We are one. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:50.640 In Christ Jesus, we are one. 00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:57.759 I'm so happy about your ethnicity, I'm so happy about your cultural diversity, I'm I'm happy to be black, can I just say that? 00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:01.119 Um I'm I'm happy Pastor Robert is white, can I just say that? 00:33:01.359 --> 00:33:02.880 I love his whiteness. 00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:05.119 He loves my blackness. 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:06.799 We are one. 00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:11.279 What would it be like if the Church of Jesus Christ came back? 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:20.960 We filled this sanctuary, we filled all campuses, all churches across this country with people that said, I'm so glad we're one. 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:30.400 I know we're different, I can see the differences, but I'm so glad we are one. 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:48.880 So, in closing, let's answer the only question that needs to be answered in order for us to love our neighbors. 00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:54.079 Is there one? 00:33:55.519 --> 00:34:02.799 Ask the question at the end of this sermon the way the Pentecostal preachers used to ask it at the end of their services, is there one? 00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:11.440 Based on the message that you've heard, are you ready to open up your heart for how God might want to make two things one? 00:34:11.679 --> 00:34:12.960 Is there one? 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:20.000 Who perhaps have had their paradigm of thought changed to the point that they can see God doing a new thing in them? 00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:22.880 Is there one? 00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:30.159 The answer is an unequivocal yes from Scripture. 00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:35.440 Now we just need that same yes from you. 00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:46.000 God thank you for this message and its ability to reach everybody and make us one. 00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:48.320 In Jesus' name. 00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:50.159 Amen.