September 29, 2013
Morning Service

This morning we will finish our teachings on what we teach.  I hope you take time, and refer your friends to our website.  Caleb does a really good job of putting our services up there to enjoy.  You can catch what we teach, along with some really good music.  The web site is on our bookmarkers.

 

We have looked at:

1.       The Bible is our rule of faith, and sets forth our standard of living.

2.      The Church that Jesus said He would build is the pillar and ground of truth.

3.      We looked at what we teach to obtain eternal life, which is the gift of God, by accepting, and believing the atoning work on Calvary of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the very Son of God.

4.      Then we looked at our weekly pattern of worship.

5.      Eternal life or eternal death. 

Today we will begin with number 6;  THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

 

As we study our Scriptures we find a cry for unity of what we teach.  Listen to Jesus;

This 17^th chapter of St. Jn. Is where Jesus prays for Himself, His immediate disciples, and us.

Joh 17:11  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Joh 17:21  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

Joh 17:23  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

·         One of the reasons Jesus wants His church to be one, and united is to be a witness to the world, or lost.  You have one church believing that everyone should have this gift, another denying the gifts, and another doing it this way, and another doing it another way.  Some saying if you don’t worship the way we do you are lost.   Terrible.  All supposedly from the same Spirit’s guidance.  Remember the Scriptures say, God is not the author of confusion.  Satan is.  Satan is the one that likes to see the church fight and fuss, separate, and people fall away from the worship.

Listen to Paul on this subject:

·         Eph 4:1-6  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,  (2)  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;  (3)  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  (4)  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;  (5)  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,  (6)  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Paul explains in this Scripture, the oneness God wants us to have.

·         ONE BODY;  1Co 12:27  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

This is the gift chapter of ICorinthians.  Paul is explaining how that we are all in the same body, the church, and with different gifts, and duties.  BUT ONE BODY, THE CHURCH.

·         ONE SPIRIT;  Now let me say that here is where it can get a little confusing if you are not careful, and is where you must rightly divide the Word.  THERE IS ONLY ONE SPIRIT.  This is the Father of Jesus, Jehovah God of the old testament.

·         Matthew 1:18 tells us that the Father of Jesus is the Holy Ghost.

·         Jesus, Himself, tells Nicodemus that God is Spirit, and that we must worship Him in Spirit and truth.

 

·         ONE HOPE;   I think Paul says it best in Titus;  Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 

Notice, looking for that blessed hope AND, the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.  AND denotes that the appearing of Jesus is not the blessed hope, but is this;

·         Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

·         Tit 3:7  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

·         Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

The hope talked about by Paul is the hope of eternal life.

·         ONE LORD;  Joh 13:13  Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

·         Time after time Jesus is referred to as Lord, and so He is.

·         ONE FAITH;  We refer so often to Heb. 11 when referring to faith, for it describes what faith is, and how important it is in our hope for eternal life.

·         Rom 3:25  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

·         Here again to get the full meaning of the faith Paul is referring to in Eph.  You need to read the Bible, and let God show you the importance of faith.  However, God does want us unified on this subject.

·         ONE BAPTISM;  There is one Christian baptism, and it is illustrated, or we have examples of it many times in the book of Acts.  But we should need no more than one example, and that would be after Jesus had given to keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter, he used them on the day of Pentecost, and opened the door to the kingdom to the Jews.  Peter said, Act 2:38-39  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  (39)  For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

·         And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Eternal life is the gift, yet it is one and same.  You act in obedience to the repent, and be baptized, and you receive into your life the Holy Ghost which produces eternal life in the believer.

·         For the promise, which is, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  To verify this promise from God, Peter used the keys of heaven again in chapter 10 of the book of Acts to open the doors for the Gentiles.  WHOSOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.

·         Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

·         One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

·         Rembering that there is but one Spirit, and that God the Father is that Spirit, should help us to understand God in His omniscience, and omnipresence, is that one and only Holy Ghost Spirit.

Again, the reason for unity is to show the world, that this one Spirit can guide us into the unity of the faith.  Being divided is a bad witness for the church.

Another reason, and it would be number 7 on the web, is that can you imagine the good that we could do for our community if we were united?   Hospitals, schools, places for the poor, etc.

Joh 15:20  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Joh 10:27-29  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  (28)  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  (29)  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

ALMIGHTY GOD, HELP YOUR CHURCH SEE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE UNITY OF YOUR WILL.