SPEAKER_00: I I knew it was going to be in the house today for a couple reasons.
SPEAKER_00: I've had a couple of really divine interactions over the last couple of days.
SPEAKER_00: Um yesterday, or excuse me, on Friday, I I got a phone call or a text message from a member of our congregation asking me, What's your address?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, uh, what you want with my address.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, I have a gift for you.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, what kind of gift do you have?
SPEAKER_00: And so they said, I'm gonna leave something on your front porch.
SPEAKER_00: And and uh somebody had been to our house before, so I gave them our address, and they left it on the front porch, and and it was a book of dad jokes.
SPEAKER_00: God is good all the time and all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And then this morning, I had two little girls, Addy and Gracie West, come and give me a present for Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a mug of dad jokes.
SPEAKER_00: On the back of it is a QR code that has daily dad jokes that you can access.
SPEAKER_00: God is good all the time and all the time.
SPEAKER_00: All that being said, who needs a dad joke this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I feel, I feel the anointing of the Lord today.
SPEAKER_00: And uh with with fall in the air, I feel a little fall-inspired dad jokes.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's the first one.
SPEAKER_00: Why shouldn't you, why shouldn't you tell a secret in a cornfield?
SPEAKER_00: Why shouldn't you tell a secret in a cornfield?
SPEAKER_00: It has ears.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: So good, so good.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so proud of you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a second one.
SPEAKER_00: What is worse than finding a worm in your apple?
SPEAKER_00: Finding half a worm.
SPEAKER_00: That's worse.
SPEAKER_00: Can somebody say amen to that one?
SPEAKER_00: And then last but not least, and everybody say thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Why did the lions move at the end of the summer?
SPEAKER_00: It's a great question.
SPEAKER_00: Well, because the pride goeth before the fall.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty good.
SPEAKER_00: Who's glad that's over?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all, some of y'all, well then some of y'all need to get a sense of humor.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Bible says the joy of the Lord is our.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: It's good to be in the house of the Lord with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're continuing today in a series that we began last month, looking at the biblical images of the church.
SPEAKER_00: What is the images the Bible gives us of what the church is supposed to be about?
SPEAKER_00: It's its identity, its purpose, its mission, which ironically enough is our identity because we are the church.
SPEAKER_00: It's our purpose, our mission, and our our key text is out of Matthew chapter 16 for this entire series, which, if you were here last week, Pastor Quentin had no idea about.
SPEAKER_00: It was a message that we need to write down and keep on track because it's confirming what God is doing in our church and going to do in the future.
SPEAKER_00: Just a few of the things that he said last week.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, the title of his message was The House That God is Building.
SPEAKER_00: If he didn't go anywhere else, that would be prophetic.
SPEAKER_00: But then he went on to say that this is a house that's going to be a commissioning space, a place people are going to come to get equipped so that they can be sent out.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You need to make room for more because God's bringing more.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what the title of our capital campaign is?
SPEAKER_00: Making room for more.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You need to expand those plans in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: You need to double down on this, that there are miracle pledges, there's miracle donors, they're gifts not just in the house, but outside of the house.
SPEAKER_00: Two weeks ago, I was in Montgomery, some meetings for our denomination.
SPEAKER_00: And I had a denominational leader pull me aside and just began to pray over me and prophesy over me.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, You're not dreaming big enough because what God is going to do is bigger than what you've ever imagined.
SPEAKER_00: You need to expand your plans.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone hear what God is saying to the house?
SPEAKER_00: He said, I declare life over dry bones, resurrection over dreams, people have given up on.
SPEAKER_00: He kept referencing dreams coming alive again.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know this.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't even told you this, but just a couple of weeks ago, God just spoke to me what our theme for 2026 is going to be.
SPEAKER_00: And the theme for 2026 for our church is dream again.
SPEAKER_00: There's just this the thread of the prophetic over what he said.
SPEAKER_00: He said, What God has called you to do, he is already built, and all you have to do is assemble what he has already revealed to you to do.
SPEAKER_00: And he even mentioned me, he said, Pastor, God's going to give you a vision and a dream.
SPEAKER_00: And and church, candidly, I remember five years ago, I was up in our student center praying over our church, and very clearly said, Lord, is this where you want us to be?
SPEAKER_00: Or is it time for us to think about relocating as a church?
SPEAKER_00: Because I know you have more.
SPEAKER_00: And I say, God, if it's your will for us to be here, and this is the place that you've called us to, then I need you to reveal to me how to restructure the space so that we can accommodate more.
SPEAKER_00: And I could not get that prayer off my lips quick enough until I had to grab a pen and a pad.
SPEAKER_00: And I wrote 10 pages of notes about how we need to restructure and redo our space.
SPEAKER_00: And church, that's what we've been doing over the last five years, and we're not done.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot more to do because God has more.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about Quinton and what he shared.
SPEAKER_00: It was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And I was reminded in 2013, Pastor Jim Hennessy, who was here just a couple weeks ago, is our one of our overseers, came and ministered here and brought his prayer past his prayer pastor with him on this particular trip.
SPEAKER_00: And the two of them began prophesying over our church.
SPEAKER_00: And I recorded it and I wrote it down.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to read to you what this was said and prophesied 12 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: They said, We see what looks like an old gem.
SPEAKER_00: The kind boxers or fighters train in.
SPEAKER_00: It has ropes and mats like a fighting ring.
SPEAKER_00: And I heard the Lord say, I'm training their hands for war.
SPEAKER_00: I also heard the Lord say, The things that you're asking for will take great fortitude, but he's training endurance into your hearts.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys know that's the activity of the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: And then the picture changed, and I saw children.
SPEAKER_00: They were flooding in the doors of the house.
SPEAKER_00: There were so many that their movement seemed like water.
SPEAKER_00: And I heard the Holy Spirit say, I'm bringing many children to you, and you are to train them and equip them to send them back out.
SPEAKER_00: Almost verbatim, what Quentin said last week was prophesied 12 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: Also heard the Lord say, The gifts of the Holy Spirit are going to be active in the house because they have invited me here.
SPEAKER_00: And last week, Quentin said that in this house, this is going to be the place where heaven meets earth.
SPEAKER_00: Because we've invited the Holy Spirit to this place.
SPEAKER_00: We declare that what is here will grow and expand, and what we see is a piece of property with an existing building on it that looks commercial, and all we knew is that we heard the word expansion.
SPEAKER_00: Last week, Quentin went on and on and on about that.
SPEAKER_00: I want to share a dream with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Noah, if you don't know this, is finishing a master's degree in ministry leadership in December.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Summer is finishing a master's in theology come this summer, and then a little over a year from now, I'm going to be finishing a doctorate.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe part of the expansion that God wants to do in our house is to create a school for the next generation.
SPEAKER_00: A place where young people can come to be trained and equipped and developed to go out and be the hands and the feet of Jesus to the world around us.
SPEAKER_00: The meeting that I was in two weeks ago, they laid out the realities of ministers in America today, that in the next three to five years, 30% of pastors are scheduled to retire.
SPEAKER_00: All across the country.
SPEAKER_00: And without a doubt, church, Jesus is building his church.
SPEAKER_00: And the gates of hell are not going to prevail against it.
SPEAKER_00: And he is preparing a church to be light in a dark place.
SPEAKER_00: He's preparing a people to go out beyond their comfort zone to reach the lost, the broken, the bruised, and the battered that need the hope of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And we as a congregation of believers, as a church in this community, are posturing ourselves to be the hands and the feet of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I can, I couldn't, I could not be any more excited about what God's doing.
SPEAKER_00: And we get to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is building his church.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what this whole series has been about over the last several weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Looking at the church that Jesus is building.
SPEAKER_00: I I we need to understand something.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't my church, this isn't your church, this is his church.
SPEAKER_00: And so we need to get a vision of the church that Jesus wants to build.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what the Bible lays out for us.
SPEAKER_00: It gives us pictures and it gives us images to help us to understand the church that Jesus wants to build.
SPEAKER_00: Some of those images that we've looked at, we've we've looked at the image of a colony of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That that the Bible tells us that the church is a representative of heaven on earth, that God has saved us not to hide us, but to send us out into the world.
SPEAKER_00: That we are to be his witnesses.
SPEAKER_00: That isn't my call.
SPEAKER_00: That's not just some of y'all's call, that's all of our.
SPEAKER_00: We are ambassadors for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Witnesses to the world.
SPEAKER_00: We're a colony of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: We're a bride of Christ, that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, our soul, our mind, and to live ready for his return.
SPEAKER_00: That he is the ambition of our life and he's the focus.
SPEAKER_00: He's first.
SPEAKER_00: When we live that way, we live as a witness, and that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know the temple is no longer in a place, it's in a people.
SPEAKER_00: We both individually and collectively are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you what that means.
SPEAKER_00: It means that we are the manifestation of the presence of God on the earth wherever we go.
SPEAKER_00: That we that we take the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: The glory of God isn't in a place, it's in a person.
SPEAKER_00: So wherever that person goes, there's the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: We need to live that way.
SPEAKER_00: And so what that means is that I am just inviting God into everything that He's already doing.
SPEAKER_00: And when we live that way, church, we are embodying the image, the church that Jesus came.
SPEAKER_00: And the image I want to look at today is the image of a body.
SPEAKER_00: Stand with me where you are this morning as we read God's word.
SPEAKER_00: The image of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In First Corinthians chapter 12, Paul says, just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Though there are many parts to a body, there's just one body.
SPEAKER_00: And so it is with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For we, he's talking about all of us, we, the church, are baptized by one spirit so as to form one body.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or a Gentile or slave or free, we're all given the one spirit to drink.
SPEAKER_00: Even so, the body is not made up of one part, but of many.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is emphasizing here in this verse that there are many parts but one body.
SPEAKER_00: Say that after me.
SPEAKER_00: Many parts, but one body.
SPEAKER_00: Many parts, one body, many parts, one body.
SPEAKER_00: Church, this is God's word, and we the title of my message this morning is this many parts, one body.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to your neighbor and say, many parts, one body.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to your other neighbor and say, many parts, one body.
SPEAKER_00: Turn around to the person behind you and say, many parts, one body.
SPEAKER_00: Father, this morning, we thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, and it shows us the way to go and how to arrive there safely.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray this morning that we would not just be hearers of your word, but we'd be doers of it in Jesus' mighty name.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody said, Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Caleb, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I know it may not look like it today, but there was a day that I was a pretty active person playing sports.
SPEAKER_00: I grew up playing baseball and basketball and football, even played soccer for a few years.
SPEAKER_00: I was very, very active in sports, love sports.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember it was my senior year of high school, and we're playing basketball, and we we had a pretty good basketball team, but we're playing a really, really good team.
SPEAKER_00: And our coach has given us the pep talk before we're to run out on the court.
SPEAKER_00: And he emphasizes over and over and over again how important we are as a team.
SPEAKER_00: And he says something that you're probably somewhat familiar with, a phrase, he says, There is no I in.
SPEAKER_00: Over and over again, he's emphasizing this.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on and on and on.
SPEAKER_00: And just as he is finishing, one of my teammates raises his hand and he says, Coach, there may not be an I in team, but there is an I in win.
SPEAKER_00: And if we want to win, we need to get me the ball.
SPEAKER_00: The rest of us kind of jerked our head, and the coach was was just dumbfounded.
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't know how to respond.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna tell you how he responded.
SPEAKER_00: That dude sat the whole game.
SPEAKER_00: The problem was he was one of our better players, and and and so he sat and we lost.
SPEAKER_00: And the the point of that is that we needed his part in order to win, but he wanted to make his part the part to the exclusion of everyone else.
SPEAKER_00: And church, when we make our part the part to the exclusion of every other part, we always lose.
SPEAKER_00: The number one problem in all relational environments is that we want to make our part the part.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this even in scripture.
SPEAKER_00: The apostle Paul begins to deal with this in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, starting in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Now, if the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being a part of the body.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, just because the hand thinks it's better than every other part, doesn't cease to make it a part of the body.
SPEAKER_00: And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I don't belong to the body.
SPEAKER_00: It would not for that reason stop being a part.
SPEAKER_00: If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?
SPEAKER_00: If if every part wasn't was an ear, but where would the sense of smelling be?
SPEAKER_00: He goes on and on, helping us to understand the importance of every piece and part of the body.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, but in God, but in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.
SPEAKER_00: If they were all one part, where would the body be?
SPEAKER_00: As it is there are.
SPEAKER_00: How many parts?
SPEAKER_00: And how many bodies?
SPEAKER_00: There are many parts, but one body.
SPEAKER_00: The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you.
SPEAKER_00: And the head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you.
SPEAKER_00: The number one problem that we find in most environments, and it and it really pervades every environment.
SPEAKER_00: It it pervades marriages, it pervades families, it's it's in business, it's in sports, and in every relational environment, the tendency for people is to make their part the part.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, church.
SPEAKER_00: Am I talking to anybody this morning?
SPEAKER_00: It's our human natural tendency to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Let me make it practical for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Husbands and wives, we do it all the time.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have said something to the fact of well, I filled the dishwasher, but I emptied it?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I cleaned the kitchen, but I swept the floors.
SPEAKER_00: Am I talking to anybody this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I I I made the bed, well, I cleaned the toilet.
SPEAKER_00: Then there's the endless wrestling in marriages over whose taste buds and temperature gets the rule today.
SPEAKER_00: Every man in here asks his wife, where do you want to eat?
SPEAKER_00: And every woman says, I don't care.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a lot.
SPEAKER_00: You have an opinion, you're just not saying it.
SPEAKER_00: What about this place?
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't really want that place.
SPEAKER_00: What about this place?
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't really want that place.
SPEAKER_00: Well, then tell me where you want to go.
SPEAKER_00: Am I preaching this morning to anybody?
SPEAKER_00: And then then there's the endless debate over temperatures.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm freezing.
SPEAKER_00: Let's start with this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm hot.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how about get out from under the 15 blankets?
SPEAKER_00: You're all over here.
SPEAKER_00: Take one of those 15 blankets off, and you might get a little cooler.
SPEAKER_00: Am I talking?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I see, I see you hear it.
SPEAKER_00: I know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you'd get a little cooler if you took some of those blankets off.
SPEAKER_00: Or what what what about I'm cold?
SPEAKER_00: Go put some clothes on.
SPEAKER_00: And stop running the thermostat to 78.
SPEAKER_00: Or 82 or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: It's the endless.
SPEAKER_00: Which one is more important?
SPEAKER_00: And we do it in families as well.
SPEAKER_00: Every road trip.
SPEAKER_00: I remember when the kids were little, that every road trip was a fight over.
SPEAKER_00: Whose playlist was the jam?
SPEAKER_00: Did I just date myself with that jam phrase?
SPEAKER_00: A little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, speaking of that, where are my Gen Xers at?
SPEAKER_00: And all the Gen Xers in the house, raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, just a few of you raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys picked up on the very opening intro of the video and what the song was?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, it it was by MC Hammer.
SPEAKER_00: What was it?
SPEAKER_00: Too legit to quit.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody remember that?
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be here all day.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's we have this constant fight over whose playlist.
SPEAKER_00: And then in business, we do the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: The sales department is fighting with the service department over who's most important.
SPEAKER_00: In hospitals, you have doctors fighting with nursers who are fighting with administrators about who's the most important person keeping other people alive.
SPEAKER_00: And then you have the bill department handing you the bill and saying we're the most important part.
SPEAKER_00: And we do it in church too.
SPEAKER_00: In church, we're driven by our passions, our preferences, and our perspectives.
SPEAKER_00: One person says, I want the music louder.
SPEAKER_00: Another one says, I want it softer.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says, Well, I want more hymns.
SPEAKER_00: Another says, I want more choruses.
SPEAKER_00: One person says, I want more worship.
SPEAKER_00: Another person says, I want more preaching.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't really get that one, but it felt like it fit.
SPEAKER_00: One person has a passion for evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: They say we need more evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: Another person has a passion for prayer and says we need more prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Another person has a passion for discipleship and says we need more discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: And we we have this unending attempt to elevate our preferences, our passions, and our perspectives above every one other.
SPEAKER_00: And the problem with that is we don't need a piece or a part, we need the whole.
SPEAKER_00: And when we elevate our piece and our part above the whole, you know what we do?
SPEAKER_00: We create division.
SPEAKER_00: When what we should understand is that God, the Bible says it here in 1 Corinthians 12, God has appointed each part a part to play.
SPEAKER_00: And I need to play my part.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna give you advice.
SPEAKER_00: If you think we need more ministry in one area of our church, we're totally open to that.
SPEAKER_00: And I would love for you to bring that to me, but you need to know how I'm going to respond.
SPEAKER_00: If God has shown you what we need to do, he's also equipped you to do it.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think we need more discipleship, we would agree.
SPEAKER_00: What are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: We need more evangelism, I would agree.
SPEAKER_00: What are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: We need more outreach, I agree.
SPEAKER_00: What are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: Because if God has shown you what needs to be done, he's also given you the ability to meet that need.
SPEAKER_00: It's not somebody else's responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: I got plenty on my plate.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to fulfill God's dream for your life.
SPEAKER_00: You need to.
SPEAKER_00: It's your call, it's your mandate.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you're a part of the body.
SPEAKER_00: There's a part that you have to play.
SPEAKER_00: And it's time for all of us to play our part.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul even begins to deal with this a little bit at the very beginning of the letter to the church in Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: He says, My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.
SPEAKER_00: And what I mean is this one of you says, I follow Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Another, I follow Apollos, another, Cephas, another, I follow Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Is Christ divided?
SPEAKER_00: Was Christ crucified for you?
SPEAKER_00: Were you baptized in the name of Paul?
SPEAKER_00: What is Paul addressing here?
SPEAKER_00: Paul is addressing a mentality where everybody is elevating their preference over everyone else's preference.
SPEAKER_00: They're elevating their taste and what they prefer to the exclusion of everyone else.
SPEAKER_00: And some are saying, Well, I really like Apollos.
SPEAKER_00: Apollos was a Greek communicator, and so there was this Greek flavor that he had to what he did.
SPEAKER_00: And so what people were saying is that I really like the flavor of Apollos.
SPEAKER_00: And well, no, I some others said, No, I really like Syaphas, which is Peter.
SPEAKER_00: I really like the Jewish flavor that Peter brings to the table.
SPEAKER_00: And said, No, I really like Paul because he kind of brings a little bit of a diversity of the other two.
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me break this down.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing wrong with having a preference to your taste.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_00: But when you make your taste the standard of taste, you create division.
SPEAKER_00: Let me take it a step further.
SPEAKER_00: When you make your taste the standard of taste, you're setting yourself up to be God.
SPEAKER_00: And saying everybody else has to accommodate to my taste because my taste is the taste.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, no, it's not.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is the taste.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is the flavor that we need to have in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you something about Christ's flavor.
SPEAKER_00: He likes diversity.
SPEAKER_00: Just look at creation.
SPEAKER_00: Not every mountain, not every place has mountains.
SPEAKER_00: Not every place has seashores.
SPEAKER_00: Not every place has valleys.
SPEAKER_00: Not every place has plains.
SPEAKER_00: God loves diversity.
SPEAKER_00: So what that means is that every flavor has a place.
SPEAKER_00: Just look in the room.
SPEAKER_00: God loves diversity.
SPEAKER_00: He loves the beauty of his creation and all of its flavor.
SPEAKER_00: And what we need to learn how to do if we're going to build the church that Jesus is building is that we need to love the diversity of flavor that the creation exists.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Paul is pointing out here.
SPEAKER_00: And in this, I'll say it this way: in the body of Christ, there is no the part, but there is the body.
SPEAKER_00: When every part plays their part, the body is built up.
SPEAKER_00: And when every part tries to be the part, the body falls apart.
SPEAKER_00: So we need to learn how to play the part that God has called us to play in the body so that it can be built up to the fullness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_00: How do we live as the body?
SPEAKER_00: Paul gives us a couple of clues.
SPEAKER_00: Back in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, in verse 10, Paul says, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say the word agree.
SPEAKER_00: All of you agree with one another in a way, in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, but that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when you read that word agree, or when I read that word agree, I interpreted it as same.
SPEAKER_00: But as I dissected it in the Greek, I began to understand that it doesn't mean exactly that.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word agree is actually a musical term, and it literally means to harmonize.
SPEAKER_00: It means to harmonize.
SPEAKER_00: I actually did that backwards with my hands.
SPEAKER_00: High, mid, or low.
SPEAKER_00: And then I have to listen to what the others are singing, which means I'm not singing the same thing, but I am singing in harmony with the others.
SPEAKER_00: So agreement doesn't mean that we're all identical, that we're all the same, that everything is without beauty and diversity and creativity.
SPEAKER_00: What it means is that we're all working in harmony together, each playing our very specific but different part to make the whole better.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Paul is saying here.
SPEAKER_00: So he's saying that that if we want to live as the body, we've got to learn to harmonize with one another.
SPEAKER_00: And that means, yeah, I've got a part to play and I need to play that part, but I also need to listen to the other parts.
SPEAKER_00: Because if I'm not listening to what they're singing, I'm gonna sing the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_00: And harmony goes out the window.
SPEAKER_00: I believe agreement, when we harmonize together, it releases the manifestation of the kingdom of God on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the psalmist says in Psalms 133.
SPEAKER_00: He says, how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity.
SPEAKER_00: Why is it pleasant?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's harmony.
SPEAKER_00: It's like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down on the collar of his robe.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pause here.
SPEAKER_00: Oil in scripture is always symbolic of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So what he's saying is that when we live in harmony with one another, this is the place that God pours out his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys want more of God's spirit in your life?
SPEAKER_00: If you want more of God's spirit in your life, then the Bible has given us a clue to how to have more of God's spirit, and it's living in harmony with one another.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that doesn't mean same, but it means complementary.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, it says if the dew, do water is always representative of the Holy Spirit in scripture.
SPEAKER_00: It's of the dew of Hermon.
SPEAKER_00: We're following on Mount Zion.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's for it's there that the Lord bestows his blessing, even life.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys want more of God's blessing in your life?
SPEAKER_00: If you don't, we have problems.
SPEAKER_00: I want more of God's blessing in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how do I get more of God's blessing in my life?
SPEAKER_00: I learn to live in harmony.
SPEAKER_00: I learn to live complementary with the people around me working together, not against.
SPEAKER_00: And when I live in that place, it's the place that God pours out his spirit and he releases his blessing, and we become a manifestation of the presence of God on the earth, so the world will know that Jesus is King.
SPEAKER_00: This, he says, is the place that he does that.
SPEAKER_00: This is the church, the body that Christ is building.
SPEAKER_00: Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: Starting in verse 25, Paul gives us a second clue for how to live as the body.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 25, he says, so that there should be no division in the body.
SPEAKER_00: That is, parts should have what kind of concern?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm just everybody look at me.
SPEAKER_00: That was really weak.
SPEAKER_00: What kind of concern?
SPEAKER_00: Let's try that one more time.
SPEAKER_00: What kind of concern?
SPEAKER_00: Equal concern for themselves?
SPEAKER_00: For who?
SPEAKER_00: So equal concern for each other.
SPEAKER_00: Live in agreement, harmonize with one another, and then have equal concern for each other.
SPEAKER_00: Why do I need to have equal concern for each other?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: For if one part suffers, every part suffers with it.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we're the body.
SPEAKER_00: No one exists alone on an island unto themselves.
SPEAKER_00: You are a part of a body called the body of Christ, and every part is needed.
SPEAKER_00: If every part, if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
SPEAKER_00: Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
SPEAKER_00: Let me break down that phrase equal concern.
SPEAKER_00: Equal concern literally means to care for, to be concerned about, or in a negative sense, even to worry or to be anxious for somebody.
SPEAKER_00: And so what Paul is saying is that we need to have this mindset, this attitude, this desire to care for and to be concerned about every other part of the body.
SPEAKER_00: In classical Greek, this word referred to thoughtful and careful regard for someone else's needs.
SPEAKER_00: Let me help you understand it by telling you what it's not.
SPEAKER_00: Equal concern is not saying, I'll pray for that when somebody brings you a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Equal concern isn't saying, Lord, God bless their heart when you hear about a problem.
SPEAKER_00: The whole verb tense of equal concern is communicating an active and ongoing motion that is moving you to do something about the situation that you're seeing.
SPEAKER_00: It's not something of an emotional, heartfelt empathy or even sympathy.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, no, no, no, it may involve that, but it can't stay there.
SPEAKER_00: It's got to move beyond it.
SPEAKER_00: That we're where now I have seen a situation where a part is hurting, then I've got to do something about that part to help it get well.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you an illustration.
SPEAKER_00: If you cut your leg, are you gonna leave your leg to deal with it?
SPEAKER_00: No, probably your mind, your head, is gonna tell your hands you need to go grab something and wrap it up so it stops bleeding, and then you need to go get some bandages and put on it so that it can get well.
SPEAKER_00: There's an active participation with the whole body and making the part well that was unwell.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Paul is talking about here.
SPEAKER_00: Equal concern isn't just saying, I'm sorry, I'll pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, man, you've been going through it.
SPEAKER_00: I just pray God blesses you.
SPEAKER_00: No, you are the blessing.
SPEAKER_00: You're the one that gets your hands dirty and says, What can I do to help make you well?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, He that knows the good that he should do and fails to do it, that for him is sin.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's let's play that out.
SPEAKER_00: What does sin do in our lives?
SPEAKER_00: Separates us from God.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So, what what the Bible is telling us, what equal concern is when I see a problem, I'm moved to do something about it.
SPEAKER_00: If I don't become moved to do something about it because I'm more focused on myself than somebody else, that for me is sin that separates me from the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: And we just read that if we want more of God's presence in our lives, we have to learn how to not only harmonize with one another, but care for one another.
SPEAKER_00: And when we live that way, we become the body of Christ built up to be his representatives on earth, impacting the world around us in increasing measure.
SPEAKER_00: Church, church is absolutely the best when we see it as a place where we are both a caretaker and a care receiver.
SPEAKER_00: How different would the church be?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not just talking about Christian life church, I'm talking about the church.
SPEAKER_00: If every person came not just to get but to give, I hear it all the time.
SPEAKER_00: People say, I come to church for an audience of one, I've come to worship the Lord, and and I get the sentiment, and it sounds good, but it's not wholly biblical, it's not what the Bible tells us.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us, yes, that we're to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, but it doesn't say seek first and nothing else.
SPEAKER_00: No, we're gonna seek God first and then others second.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
SPEAKER_00: And who do we love as ourselves?
SPEAKER_00: This is the second greatest commandment.
SPEAKER_00: So we seek first to worship the Lord, and we seek secondly to serve others.
SPEAKER_00: This is the body, and this is what it looks like when it's at the best.
SPEAKER_00: How do we live that way?
SPEAKER_00: Let me just give you four things in conclusion this morning.
SPEAKER_00: How do we live as the body?
SPEAKER_00: Number one is accepting and bearing with one another.
SPEAKER_00: We accept and we bear with one another.
SPEAKER_00: We understand that every person is in process.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Are there any perfect people in the house?
SPEAKER_00: Let me just survey real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Any any perfect people in the house?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that means that we're all in process and we accept people just as they are because that's how Jesus accepts us.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone thankful for that this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Number two, we encourage and build one another up.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the primary purposes of the church.
SPEAKER_00: Do not give up the habit of meeting together as some are in the habit of doing.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because other people need to be built up and encouraged.
SPEAKER_00: So do that.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, carrying each other's burdens.
SPEAKER_00: One of the primary purposes of our gathering is so that we can carry, we can lift up one another's burdens.
SPEAKER_00: There are days I need to be lifted up, and there's other days that I need to lift other people up.
SPEAKER_00: But neither one of those things happened if I don't come with the attitude of God, what can I give?
SPEAKER_00: And it's amazing that when I add it, when I approach it with what can I give, God always gives something in return.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, sharing resources and hospitality.
SPEAKER_00: When we share what God has given us and blessed us with, and when we're hospitable, listen, church, we live in such an unhospitable world.
SPEAKER_00: When we live hospitable, say, all you who are weary, heavy laden, come to this place and find rest.
SPEAKER_00: Church, what might God do?
SPEAKER_00: Whose lives might He save and set free and redeem?
SPEAKER_00: When we live not as a part, but as the body.
SPEAKER_00: I need healing in my body, I need restoration in my relationships, I need God to do a miracle in my life.
SPEAKER_00: The worship team is going to lead us in a final song this morning, and I want to challenge you to get out of your seat and come and receive the encouragement that God desires to give you because you're a part of a body.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you say there's some area in my life where I need some encouragement?
SPEAKER_00: That's right, that's right.
SPEAKER_00: Hands going up.
SPEAKER_00: Will you just stretch your hands towards heaven all across the sanctuary this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, I invite you into this place.
SPEAKER_00: You're already here.
SPEAKER_00: We acknowledge your presence in this place this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray, Lord, over every heart and every life that is weary, that is worn out, that is tired, Father, that needs encouragement, that needs healing, that needs restoration in their life.
SPEAKER_00: I pray and I declare they've come to the right place at the right time to receive a miracle from you.
SPEAKER_00: Through the hands of your body.
SPEAKER_00: I pray, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Do it now.
SPEAKER_00: Several of you raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to go ahead and move out of your seat this morning to receive ministry.
SPEAKER_00: To come and partner with one of our prayer team members today.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: Move out of your seat right now and receive what God would desire to give you today.
SPEAKER_00: Church, just hang out here for a moment as we worship your team.
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.