Dale Partridge - The Necessity of Church Unity with Corbin Clarke

00:00:00.000 This will be the reading in preparation for Elder Corbin's sermon this morning.

00:00:10.240 John 17, verse 20 through 26.

00:00:15.540 This passage is a part of Jesus' high priestly prayer,

00:00:19.660 where he prays not only for his disciples, but for also the future believers.

00:00:24.580 In these verses, Jesus emphasizes the unity of believers with one another and with God,

00:00:33.620 rooted in his love and truth.

00:00:37.140 Now, as we read, notice how deeply Christ desires for us to reflect

00:00:41.920 the same oneness that exists between him and the Father.

00:00:47.340 John 17, verse 20 and 26.

00:00:51.940 Hear the word of the Lord.

00:00:54.580 I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their

00:01:00.760 word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they

00:01:10.780 also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

00:01:16.420 The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we

00:01:23.500 are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world

00:01:31.780 may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they

00:01:39.660 also whom you have given me may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have

00:01:46.880 given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world o righteous father

00:01:54.880 even though the world does not know you i know you and these know that you have sent me

00:02:02.080 i made known to them your name and i will continue to make it known

00:02:06.880 that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and i in them this is the word of the lord

00:02:13.920 Amen. It's good to be with all of you this morning, to be able to open up God's Word

00:02:24.060 together. To be able to preach it from this pulpit is probably the greatest privilege

00:02:29.360 I get this side of heaven. So I thank you for that opportunity. I want to begin this

00:02:36.340 morning by reminding you that we installed some new members last week. I want to bring

00:02:43.080 to your attention that installation into the church is not installment into a group or

00:02:50.640 into a club, but they were installed into a covenant. In the church, there are three

00:02:59.540 types of covenant. Our covenant with God, our covenant with our families, and our covenant

00:03:06.540 and our covenant with our spiritual family.

00:03:10.860 This morning, I want to show you the connection

00:03:13.980 between your physical families and your spiritual family.

00:03:20.180 So fathers, before we dive into this sermon,

00:03:22.980 I have a question for you.

00:03:26.160 Can any of you think of any reason

00:03:29.620 why you would ever divide from anyone in your family?

00:03:33.980 Why you would ever allow division

00:03:35.820 to happen between your sons and your daughters?

00:03:39.000 Or a rift to come between you and your wife?

00:03:44.520 Is there any reason why you would allow 0.95

00:03:46.180 any one of your family members

00:03:48.400 to break covenant with one another? 1.00

00:03:52.900 The only reason I could think of biblically

00:03:55.000 why this should ever happen in your family

00:03:57.720 is because a member of your family

00:04:00.140 calls themselves a Christian

00:04:01.460 and yet lives in unrepentant sin. 0.97

00:04:04.520 1 Corinthians 5 says that we are not to have fellowship with those types of people.

00:04:11.000 Other than this, there is no good reason why you would ever break covenant with your children,

00:04:19.120 with your parents, or with any of your other family members.

00:04:23.700 You would allow no argument to come between you and your wife.

00:04:28.660 No financial disputes to separate you from your adult children.

00:04:32.340 You would allow no political differences to divide your fellowship.

00:04:38.640 No disagreements in theology.

00:04:40.700 No differentiations of personality to ever come between you and your family.

00:04:47.780 It's okay to have differences, but we should have no fatal divisions.

00:04:56.420 You would never allow this division to come between you and your family.

00:05:00.540 So then why do you allow them to come in the church?

00:05:07.060 In the church, we're slow to see this connection

00:05:10.840 between your covenant physical family and your covenant spiritual family.

00:05:17.400 We allow gossip, envy, slander, strife, and all sorts of other sins

00:05:26.260 to lie under the surface of our fellowship

00:05:29.620 and creating more and more separation from one another.

00:05:35.360 We almost never chase out these sins

00:05:38.060 with the same fervor that we would from our own families.

00:05:44.860 If you don't see this connection

00:05:46.480 between the spiritual family and the physical family,

00:05:49.100 if you think I'm just talking out of both sides of my mouth,

00:05:53.060 then I want to point you to the words of Jesus.

00:05:56.260 In Matthew 12, 48 through 50, Jesus says,

00:06:03.000 Who is my mother and who are my brothers?

00:06:06.060 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,

00:06:08.980 Here are my mother and my brothers.

00:06:12.040 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven

00:06:14.560 is my brother and sister and mother.

00:06:20.620 Jesus asked the question, Who are my family?

00:06:24.620 His answer, all those who do the will of the Father.

00:06:30.920 This verse is not an excuse for you to separate from your physical family.

00:06:35.480 But it is showing the crossover from your physical family and your spiritual family. 0.92

00:06:42.620 We all know the scripture says that if you abandon your family, you are worse than a non-believer. 0.65

00:06:48.880 But we have to understand that we do this all the time in the church. 0.97

00:06:54.760 We do this every time we allow offenses to go unaddressed.

00:06:59.200 We do this every time we allow minor differences of opinion

00:07:03.240 to swell into these deep chasms that divide our church.

00:07:09.160 We do this every time we say words intended to tear down

00:07:12.600 rather than to build up.

00:07:17.960 In this church, we don't struggle with our physical family unity.

00:07:22.060 Most of us know that we are to be united as husbands and wives

00:07:27.160 As children to their parents

00:07:29.960 I don't see very many wives who don't respect their husbands

00:07:33.920 Or fathers who are absentee fathers

00:07:36.780 But where we struggle

00:07:40.160 Is seeing the necessity for spiritual unity

00:07:45.040 In the church

00:07:47.120 we're all called to proclaim a gospel of unity

00:07:52.940 that we've been united to the Father through Jesus Christ

00:07:57.760 according to the Bible

00:08:00.260 without unity in the church

00:08:02.960 we will never be truly able to evangelize the nations

00:08:08.820 it's not possible

00:08:10.820 you see the parallels between your physical family and your spiritual

00:08:17.600 family yet if you don't multiply in your physical family what happens your

00:08:24.260 generations die if you don't multiply in your spiritual family what happens the

00:08:32.240 church dies obviously not the universal church the universal church will never

00:08:39.540 die. But our local church can absolutely

00:08:43.380 die through division. There are so

00:08:47.540 many churches who have allowed these things to go unaddressed for so long

00:08:50.880 and are no longer here.

00:08:57.020 You want to see our church die?

00:09:01.020 Let there be divisions in our congregation 0.96

00:09:03.580 and you will see this church die.

00:09:09.540 With this in mind, if you're not already there, please open your Bibles to John 17, verses 20 through 26.

00:09:19.680 As Elder West already pointed out, let me take a drink.

00:09:25.980 As Elder West already pointed out, this is Jesus' high priestly prayer.

00:09:31.140 This is the prayer that he offers to the Father right before he goes to eat the Passover meal

00:09:35.620 with his disciples right before he heads to the cross and to the resurrection.

00:09:42.160 This passage of scripture is widely understood as Jesus' heartfelt cry to see the church

00:09:49.880 be one after he goes and finishes his earthly ministry.

00:09:55.380 Now this morning, I'm going to show you the four points that Jesus makes in this passage

00:10:01.540 of scripture for why the church should be united.

00:10:05.080 the four pillars of church unity according to Jesus Christ.

00:10:10.340 These pillars are, number one, the church is to be one in the gospel.

00:10:17.440 The gospel is our first pillar.

00:10:21.320 Number two, the church is to be one in the Trinity.

00:10:26.480 Number three, the church is to be one in the shared glory of God.

00:10:30.940 And number four, the church is to be one in the deep love of God.

00:10:40.020 Know that if these four pillars are not embraced by the church, the cost is immense.

00:10:47.940 As you will see, Jesus says that by our unity, the world will believe that God sent him.

00:10:53.600 division in the local church over frivolous doctrines

00:10:58.260 is extremely expensive to the Great Commission

00:11:02.680 these four things are what Jesus wants us to be unified in

00:11:10.440 and if we do the world will see and believe

00:11:14.960 that's the purpose of our unity

00:11:18.020 that through our oneness the world will come to know

00:11:22.700 our blessed Savior. As I go through these four points, understand that our unity is always

00:11:31.120 evangelistic. Our unity will take the nations for Christ. So let's begin with verse 20.

00:11:41.520 Look down at your Bibles. Verse 20, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will

00:11:49.960 believe in me through their word. Jesus makes it clear here in our first verse

00:11:56.140 who he's praying for. He's praying for all those who will come to believe in him

00:12:02.120 through the word of the apostles. This means that he's been praying for every

00:12:08.420 believer who have ever existed since he came. This means that he's praying for

00:12:16.840 you and for me he's praying for our unity that you and I would be one but

00:12:27.520 what does he say is our first pillar of unity the answer is the testimony of the

00:12:34.120 Apostles which is found in the Bible alone Jesus is asking the Father to

00:12:41.220 unify his church around the central message that the Apostles preach which

00:12:45.480 is the gospel the truth that's found within the holy pages of Scripture is

00:12:51.180 what will unite the church Jesus is asking the Father to unite all of the

00:12:58.200 Christians who will come to believe in him because of the word that is preached

00:13:01.980 to them I'm not speaking of every nuanced theological doctrine that's

00:13:10.260 found within the pages of Scripture some of those we are going to have earnest

00:13:15.180 disagreements about how to understand.

00:13:19.740 We all have differences of opinion

00:13:21.740 about how to properly interpret passages of Scripture

00:13:24.920 like infant baptism,

00:13:28.740 Presbyterian church government,

00:13:30.840 high views of the sacraments.

00:13:32.860 The list goes on and on.

00:13:37.500 Now, when I say the church should rally

00:13:40.780 around the basic truths of the Bible,

00:13:43.340 what I mean is that we should be united on the majors.

00:13:48.100 We should be united on the message of salvation,

00:13:51.300 that Jesus Christ died and rose again.

00:13:54.360 We should be united in our understanding that God is triune.

00:13:59.560 We should understand how God saves his people

00:14:02.940 and unite around that methodology.

00:14:07.860 These things should bring us closer together,

00:14:11.360 not cause division.

00:14:15.840 The same is true in our families.

00:14:19.480 Every family has some core beliefs

00:14:21.920 that have shaped the foundation and identity of your family.

00:14:26.780 For my family, in my case, we are the Clarks.

00:14:31.400 And there are some certain doctrines that we hold dear as Clarks.

00:14:35.540 For instance, Clarks are Christian.

00:14:40.000 It's a core doctrine in my family.

00:14:44.040 Clarks are hospitable.

00:14:46.940 They care for one another.

00:14:49.760 They stick together.

00:14:52.640 These are some things in my family that unite us to one another.

00:14:57.700 And I bet, if you thought about it,

00:15:00.680 there are some things in your family that keep you together as well.

00:15:06.140 This is exactly what we see in the church.

00:15:09.860 We are united around some basic core doctrines that we hold in common,

00:15:14.720 and we can find unity in what Christ is praying for here.

00:15:20.960 This is why it's important to be in a church that faithfully preaches the Word of God.

00:15:26.300 A church that can take the truths that are found within the pages of Scripture

00:15:30.200 and make them applicable to your life.

00:15:34.200 This is the ministry of every pastor.

00:15:36.660 Every elder in the church, it's our ministry to take the Bible and apply it specifically to your life.

00:15:47.420 The reason why we're talking about all of these things is because Jesus believes that this is one of the strongest pillars of unity in the church.

00:15:59.140 The teaching that comes from the church.

00:16:01.980 Paul picks up on this idea in Ephesians 4, 11-13

00:16:06.980 He says

00:16:09.440 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers

00:16:16.380 to equip the saints for the work of ministry

00:16:19.400 for building up the body of Christ

00:16:21.980 until we attain to the unity of the faith

00:16:26.700 and the knowledge of the Son of God

00:16:28.820 to mature manhood

00:16:30.520 to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

00:16:37.620 You want to be more united in your church?

00:16:41.460 Submit to your church's teaching. 0.98

00:16:45.200 As long as it is biblical,

00:16:47.520 as long as it is faithful,

00:16:50.440 you can, and I would say that you must,

00:16:54.640 submit.

00:16:54.900 it doesn't mean that we have to believe

00:16:59.300 100% of the same things

00:17:01.180 you don't have to believe every single thing

00:17:04.260 that me or Dale or Joseph or Trevor believe

00:17:07.500 we can be unified

00:17:10.840 in the church without being uniform

00:17:13.640 but what we can't have

00:17:17.200 is division that makes you want to break covenant

00:17:20.620 with this church over secondary and tertiary doctrines

00:17:24.600 We should not be dividing over the things that come from the pulpit

00:17:31.600 Or things that you've seen in an article written by a pastor at this church

00:17:36.360 You should not divide over things that you hear on podcasts

00:17:40.820 We should not be easily offended

00:17:45.800 1 Corinthians 13 verse 5 says

00:17:49.860 Love is not easily provoked nor offended

00:17:53.080 if you are easily provoked in the church

00:17:57.840 it means that you do not love the people

00:18:01.700 of the church

00:18:02.680 you don't do this in your home

00:18:07.340 you don't allow words spoken by one of your family members

00:18:11.500 to cause you to separate

00:18:13.260 no

00:18:16.740 you work towards reconciliation

00:18:19.840 you work towards peace

00:18:24.460 the same should be true at Kingsway

00:18:28.380 in our church we are to be

00:18:32.520 examples to this community

00:18:35.480 of what it truly means to be a church united

00:18:39.240 the other churches in Prescott

00:18:42.440 are looking to this church

00:18:44.020 they're watching what we're doing

00:18:47.120 they're seeing if we're heretics

00:18:50.580 if we're going to fizzle out

00:18:53.640 I'm asking you this

00:18:58.420 as much as your convictions

00:19:02.700 and understandings will allow

00:19:04.420 I ask you to pursue submission

00:19:08.400 in this church

00:19:09.700 why?

00:19:14.040 because it is through our unity

00:19:16.460 church. That Prescott will see that

00:19:20.780 God the Father sent Jesus Christ.

00:19:25.140 It's through your unity with one another that this

00:19:28.920 community will believe in that message.

00:19:32.380 You have to believe this.

00:19:37.900 We continue on in verse 21.

00:19:41.900 Jesus starts to pray that we would

00:19:45.060 be one just as the Father is one with the Son and the Son is one with the

00:19:50.580 Father a great way to learn unity according to Christ is to look to the

00:19:56.760 Trinity this makes sense of course because there is no one more united than

00:20:05.460 the triune God. In fact, their bond of love and peace and fellowship with one another

00:20:17.580 is the example that we are given in the church and what we are to reflect in the church.

00:20:28.280 I want to clarify a couple things in this passage because it's technical.

00:20:32.960 jesus isn't asking god to make us one with the trinity in a substantial sense these are

00:20:40.620 theological words bear with me in other words he isn't asking that our nature would change

00:20:48.340 or that we would become little gods like the mormons believe or like some prosperity preachers

00:20:56.260 teach. He's not asking that our nature would change.

00:21:00.860 No, what Jesus is asking for is that

00:21:04.740 we would be entered into a divine

00:21:08.280 relationship with the Father through the Son.

00:21:14.200 Know that I'm not sharing some random

00:21:16.420 theological offshoot. I'm not simply stepping off here

00:21:20.520 just to talk about the Trinity. We have

00:21:24.320 real Mormons in this community. We have real

00:21:28.080 prosperity preachers in this community. And you need to understand that these

00:21:32.320 are the things that they teach. That because Christ's prayer

00:21:36.020 here in this passage, we become taken up

00:21:39.980 into God and become little gods.

00:21:47.540 In Christ's prayer, Jesus is asking the Father

00:21:50.140 to make us enter into the same relationship

00:21:53.060 that he has with the Father.

00:21:55.520 If Jesus were asking us to change our substance,

00:21:59.240 then Jesus, too, would have to change his substance

00:22:02.340 into the Father's substance.

00:22:05.480 This is heresy.

00:22:08.840 This is not what the Trinity is.

00:22:14.180 God shares one essence,

00:22:16.360 But he exists in three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

00:22:26.320 In order to understand this verse, we need to understand what it means for us to be one,

00:22:31.820 as Christ says, just as Christ is in the Father and the Father is in Christ.

00:22:37.560 the Puritan pastor Matthew Henry

00:22:42.120 summarized this

00:22:44.240 this passage of scripture with two points

00:22:48.000 he says that the just as

00:22:52.240 in this verse means number one

00:22:54.300 that we all have been incorporated into one body

00:22:58.540 that is the church

00:23:00.020 the way this reflects the triune unity

00:23:04.680 is because we are united as one

00:23:08.840 as Jesus is one with the Father

00:23:11.960 in their triunity,

00:23:13.500 and we are to reflect this.

00:23:17.500 Jesus says in John 14, verse 9,

00:23:21.180 whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

00:23:24.560 It shows their unity.

00:23:27.660 The Trinity is present together

00:23:29.820 whenever one is present.

00:23:32.640 If you've seen Christ,

00:23:34.020 you've seen the father for us to reflect this doesn't mean that I'm with you

00:23:41.300 wherever you go as though we have to hold hands walking down the street it's

00:23:45.520 not what this means it means that we are to be spiritually one this is exactly

00:23:54.180 what Paul says in first Corinthians 5 verse 3 he says for though absent in

00:23:59.940 body I am present in spirit Paul's unity in the church in Corinth was so

00:24:09.060 pronounced that though he wasn't there physically his mind and his spirit were

00:24:17.260 still with them this ought to be true of us here in this church whenever we are

00:24:25.300 separated from one another physically our spiritual union ought to be felt not

00:24:32.920 in some mystical ethereal sense that's not what I'm talking about what I'm

00:24:40.280 talking about is our desire to be together should be really felt by one

00:24:45.760 another that when you're not here on Sunday the other people around you

00:24:54.040 should know that you desire to be here even though you can't be. The people

00:25:00.280 around Benjamin should feel this and Trevor and Bruce and Adam. They should

00:25:07.360 be able to feel your yearning to be together with one another. The question

00:25:14.660 is is that true of your heart do you really desire to be here together in

00:25:25.760 your heart of hearts is it the highlight of your week to be present with the body

00:25:31.940 of Christ in this church to be enjoying the bond of fellowship and peace that we

00:25:39.140 have? Or do you look at your time away as time off? I don't have to go to church today.

00:25:51.540 Is that your heart? What's it going to take for you to commit? Ask yourself that question.

00:26:09.140 The second point that Matthew Henry points out in this passage is that our unity should be knit together by the bond of love and charity, just as the Trinity is knit together by the bond of love and charity.

00:26:29.680 We have to be as loving and as charitable as the Trinity is loving and charitable with one another.

00:26:40.540 God the Father loves God the Son immeasurably.

00:26:46.100 And the same is true for the Son, for the Father, and for the Holy Spirit.

00:26:52.340 This type of love for one another is to be reflected in the church.

00:26:56.220 The Christian's love for one another should not be so surface level that it's never felt.

00:27:03.380 We cannot say that we love one another without exemplifying this love in tangible felt ways.

00:27:12.300 You cannot say that you love one another and never eat together outside of Sunday.

00:27:18.140 You cannot say that you love one another without desiring to serve one another.

00:27:23.260 by visiting one another, spending time together.

00:27:29.880 These things are the felt tangible ways of love and charity.

00:27:36.120 The early church Christian apologist Tertullian records in his work Apology

00:27:41.720 that many in the Roman world didn't like Christians.

00:27:47.380 They believed that Christians were atheists

00:27:50.040 because they would not worship the pagan gods.

00:27:53.260 They wouldn't make sacrifices to Caesar.

00:27:56.780 They wouldn't conform to the norms that were real in Rome at the time.

00:28:03.680 But something that Tertullian records that these Christian haters could not deny

00:28:09.200 was the love that the church had for one another.

00:28:13.740 He says in his work, quote,

00:28:15.840 See how they love one another, and how they are ready to die for each other, end quote.

00:28:28.100 This quote exemplifies the very thing that Jesus says in this passage will happen.

00:28:36.240 That through the church's unity, all of Rome came to bend the knee to Jesus Christ.

00:28:42.780 Jesus says by our unity

00:28:46.340 the world will believe

00:28:47.840 and that's exactly what happened in Rome

00:28:51.080 do you believe this?

00:28:59.100 would you sacrifice for one another?

00:29:02.180 would you serve one another?

00:29:06.680 this is the power of unity

00:29:08.900 look at what it can do to a whole nation

00:29:13.160 imagine what it could do in Prescott

00:29:17.160 so far

00:29:21.800 we've seen that Jesus wants his church

00:29:25.220 to be united by the gospel

00:29:26.760 that is preached by the apostles

00:29:28.460 which is found in the Bible

00:29:29.700 we've seen that he wants his church

00:29:32.260 to be so united

00:29:33.340 that we reflect the Trinity

00:29:34.800 in our unity

00:29:35.860 And that all these things will be a testimony to the world that Jesus is God.

00:29:44.000 Now, we're going to see Jesus praying that his church would be united in his glory.

00:29:51.820 That is his divinity.

00:29:54.480 This is important because people need to see Christ in you.

00:29:59.700 They need to see his unconditional love.

00:30:03.240 His overwhelming joy.

00:30:05.860 His unquestionable peace that you possess.

00:30:10.500 And when they see him in you, they will see the glory of God in this church.

00:30:17.340 In verses 22 and 24 it says,

00:30:20.460 The glory that you've given me, I have given to them.

00:30:23.740 That they may be one, just as we are one.

00:30:26.480 I in them, and you in me.

00:30:28.800 That they may become perfectly one.

00:30:31.000 so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you have loved me.

00:30:37.280 Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am

00:30:42.680 to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundations of the world.

00:30:51.320 For the second time in this passage of Scripture,

00:30:53.640 Jesus mentions the shared union of believers within the Trinity that gives them true unity.

00:30:59.240 But this time he says that he has shared his glory with us that we may be one.

00:31:07.400 But what does this mean for Christ to share his glory with you?

00:31:13.240 Jesus says that it is through his presence that the church shares his glory.

00:31:19.860 He says, I in them and you in me.

00:31:24.580 This is part of his ministry as high priest, to share the glory of God with the people of God.

00:31:35.560 Christ says that he's in us, and Paul affirms this truth again in Colossians chapter 1.

00:31:43.620 He says,

00:31:54.580 you the hope of glory.

00:32:00.060 What makes King's Way glorious?

00:32:04.980 The King.

00:32:07.560 That's what makes King's Way glorious.

00:32:11.500 When people walk into this church, they don't only see the natural, but the supernatural.

00:32:18.600 The supernatural ability to love and to unify, which seems to be so impossible in our world today.

00:32:30.740 The patience and compassion that seems to be so rare in our world should be here at Kingsway.

00:32:39.960 We share in the glory of Christ because Christ is here with us now.

00:32:48.600 So the unity in the church is not just about doing something.

00:32:52.620 It's not just about the practical ways of showing love.

00:32:56.020 It is part of that.

00:32:58.780 But it's about being something.

00:33:03.280 It's about being in Christ, and Christ being in you.

00:33:10.480 This is how the world may know that we are one,

00:33:14.020 because our Lord is with us

00:33:17.360 and in us.

00:33:23.060 Lastly,

00:33:24.800 the church is united

00:33:27.840 because of the love of God.

00:33:31.880 We've seen that the church is to be united

00:33:33.820 because of the truth that's found within the Word of God.

00:33:37.740 The church is to be united because

00:33:39.740 God wants the church to reflect the unity of the Trinity.

00:33:44.020 The church is to be united in the shared glory of Christ through his presence.

00:33:50.400 And now we're seeing that the church is to be united in the deep and abiding love of God.

00:34:01.280 Jesus ends his prayer by saying,

00:34:04.300 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you.

00:34:09.780 And these know that you've sent me.

00:34:12.200 I've made known to them your name.

00:34:14.020 and I will continue to make it known

00:34:16.160 that the love with which you have loved me

00:34:18.640 may be in them and I in them.

00:34:23.680 Almost every time in the Bible

00:34:25.320 where you see a call for unity,

00:34:28.140 you will see a clear example

00:34:30.520 of love that's exhibited.

00:34:35.320 Here, Jesus is saying that the means

00:34:37.480 by which the love of God dwells within us

00:34:39.980 is through our shared knowledge of the Father

00:34:42.840 given to us by Christ this is the very purpose here for why we're given the

00:34:49.440 knowledge of the Father it is as Christ says so that the love of the Father that

00:34:55.800 he has for the Son may be in us this kind of knowledge isn't just knowing

00:35:03.360 about God Jesus isn't just speaking about a separated knowledge something

00:35:09.400 you observe in a microscope or at a distance.

00:35:14.160 The demons know this much about God, and it doesn't save them.

00:35:19.240 The world can say that they believe in God, but it will not save them.

00:35:27.440 Believing that God exists is not enough for you to go to heaven.

00:35:33.820 The only knowledge that leads to salvation is the knowledge that leads to the love of

00:35:41.300 God.

00:35:44.240 It's similar to the knowledge that you gained when you were dating your wife.

00:35:50.160 When you were going on dates, you had to talk about things that you had in common.

00:35:55.100 You had to share things that hurt and things that you love.

00:35:59.820 had to share testimonies about your life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. You had to

00:36:08.060 get a deep, intimate knowledge of one another before you entered into covenant with one

00:36:14.220 another. The knowledge of the Father that Jesus has revealed to the world is that the

00:36:20.920 Father desires this type of relationship with his people. Our God desires to be so near

00:36:28.160 to us that he sent his spirit to dwell within us. The spirit gives us a supernatural love for

00:36:36.740 fellow believers. Have you ever met believers who you've never met before in your life, but for some

00:36:42.020 reason you have a instant connection? You have the same spirit. You have the same Lord dwelling

00:36:50.160 within you. Luke 6.32 says,

00:36:54.620 If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?

00:36:59.880 For even sinners love those who love them.

00:37:03.960 1 John 4.20 says,

00:37:05.720 If anyone says, I love God, and hates 0.91

00:37:09.960 his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love 0.88

00:37:14.000 his brother whom he has seen cannot

00:37:17.400 love God whom he has not seen.

00:37:24.460 You've seen

00:37:25.380 that loving one another

00:37:29.540 is a testimony to the world.

00:37:32.720 But it's not just a testimony to the world

00:37:35.080 about your shared love for each other.

00:37:37.800 It's the way you're going to tell the world that you love God.

00:37:42.660 You cannot say that you love God

00:37:45.520 but don't love the church. 0.99

00:37:49.340 You cannot say that you're living a faithful Christian life

00:37:52.520 without showing your love for God by loving the church.

00:37:58.520 Imagine you met a man who came into your house, met your family,

00:38:03.960 and he says to you, I love you, but I don't love your wife.

00:38:11.320 You probably wouldn't have him in your house for very long.

00:38:15.520 We cannot say that we love our God

00:38:20.040 without saying that we love his bride.

00:38:25.900 Here again, you see the connection

00:38:27.740 between your physical family and your spiritual family.

00:38:32.180 What's true in principle and in love

00:38:34.560 within the family covenant

00:38:36.140 should also be true in principle and in love

00:38:38.860 within the spiritual covenant.

00:38:41.700 So I ask you, are you consistent

00:38:44.280 in your love for the church

00:38:46.660 as you are in your love for your family?

00:38:51.580 The commitment that you have

00:38:53.300 for your physical brothers, mothers, wives,

00:38:58.200 husbands, children,

00:38:59.600 do you have that same commitment

00:39:02.840 for your spiritual sisters and brothers?

00:39:07.780 Do you have the resolve

00:39:09.820 to overcome whatever is trivial

00:39:13.980 in this church in order to seek the bond of unity and peace

00:39:19.100 that Christ so desires for his church to profess.

00:39:25.400 In this town, we have to know

00:39:29.000 that the church will not be able to faithfully evangelize without unity.

00:39:37.900 Prescott will not come to know Christ as Lord unless we are one.

00:39:43.980 If we want to see Prescott changed by the Great Commission,

00:39:49.380 it can't come from evangelism that's rooted in individualism.

00:39:54.820 It must come from a church that is so deeply and supernaturally committed to one another

00:40:02.740 that it provokes the whole town to take notice.

00:40:07.560 What would happen if that was our reputation in Prescott?

00:40:10.940 we would have to find a new building pretty quick

00:40:15.400 we would have to turn people away

00:40:19.540 and people sitting out in the rows

00:40:21.720 and in the foyer

00:40:22.720 if they heard of a church that was so united

00:40:26.580 by this type of bond

00:40:29.200 of love and fellowship

00:40:31.240 it's a powerful testimony

00:40:35.020 it's a powerful word that's preached

00:40:38.760 and if you don't preach it

00:40:40.860 the cost is detrimental.

00:40:45.180 Amen?

00:40:46.880 Let me pray.

00:40:52.740 God in heaven,

00:40:54.780 you are all holy and all wise. 0.85

00:41:00.680 You have chosen to use foolish things 0.93

00:41:03.740 in the eyes of the world 0.96

00:41:04.880 to make the weak strong.

00:41:10.860 we would have never guessed that through unity you would take the world.

00:41:19.540 But it is precisely this vehicle that you will use to take this city.

00:41:28.100 Lord, we ask that this church here at Kingsway would be a faithful church,

00:41:34.140 a church that is quick to resolve differences,

00:41:37.480 A church that will not allow sin to dwell under the surface.

00:41:46.300 But God, may this church be a people who love you so much

00:41:51.720 that they are willing to love one another through their love for you.

00:41:57.840 God, help us to put off everything that may distract from this unity

00:42:02.440 and truly be able to reflect

00:42:05.940 the Trinitarian unity that you have.

00:42:09.900 God, may you give us this grace today

00:42:11.940 and as long as this church exists.

00:42:17.340 In Jesus' name, amen.

Dale Partridge - October 02, 2024

The Necessity of Church Unity with Corbin Clarke

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