Collaboration over Competition
4 Priorities for Gospel Saturation

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Good morning, EastGate and Happy Independence Day weekend? Thanks for sharing your July 4th weekend with us today. We’re happy to have you here with us and we’re thankful, as believers, to live in a country that has these freedoms and that we can celebrate these things. We’re thankful to the Lord for that. We’re citizens, first of all, of Heaven and of following Jesus, but we’re also thankful for our citizenship as Americans.

Today, we’re in part three of our series, talking about the four priorities for gospel saturation. I would remind you of this definition; the reason I keep reminding you of what we mean when we say gospel saturation is because this is something Christ has called us to. Here’s our working definition: “Gospel Saturation is the church owning the lostness of an identified people in a defined place, ensuring that every man, woman, and child has repeated opportunities to see, hear, and respond to the Good News of Jesus Christ where they live, learn, work, and play.” For us, it is Wilson and for our Rocky Mount campus, it is Rocky Mount; these are our defined places. That’s where we are. Christ has called us to reach people where we live, ensuring that every man, woman and child has repeated opportunities to see, here and respond to the Good News. That’s what the Gospel means; it means the Good News of Jesus Christ, where they live, learn, work and play.

We are just restating what Jesus said in the book of Mark Chapter 16, he said, Mark 16:15 (ESV) “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” This mission has been given to us, to go and tell others, every man, woman and child, where we live, where we learn, where we work and where we play about Jesus.

Over the past two weeks, we’ve talked about two priorities. We’ve talked about the importance of being mobilized, that people are being equipped and sent out to talk to others about Jesus. We’ve talked about the importance of a transformed life, that the story we’re telling is that Jesus has changed our lives and that He’s transformed us, and so, we’re becoming more like Jesus.

Today we’re going to be talking about the importance of collaboration because, even if every single person here is completely mobilized and transformed, we still have a big job. Between Wilson County and Nash County is 180,000 people. It’s going to take more than just us in our lifetimes to see every man, woman and child hear the Gospel and so, it’s important that we work together.

The word “collaboration” simply means to “work together.” It means to become “co-laborers,” co-workers for the gospel. Here’s what we mean when we talk about it: collaboration occurs when God’s people partner with all the expressions of his church for the gospel saturation of a place. Regardless of what denomination or what “flavor” of church it is, as long as they believe in the good news of Jesus, they see Jesus as Lord and and have the goal of the Gospel being shared with others, then we’re ready to work together with them.

Just this past Thursday morning, I met with four other pastors and several other leaders – pastor friends from Peace Church, from Forest Hills Presbyterian, from Mount Moriah Community Church and from Impact Church. We all gathered, five of us, plus we all brought one leader with us to talk about how we can collaborate. We’ve been meeting off and on for three years and praying together, but now, we’re moving a little bit past praying. We’re still praying, but we’re moving more into strategy, talking about what we can do together that we would never be able to do by ourselves. This is kind of unheard of if you think about it because, let’s face it, friends, the church is often known for being disunified and being in competition. We want to see a change in that, moving our priority as a church from competition to collaboration.

We live in a divided world today. The world is already divided over race, over politics, over gender, over sexuality, etc. over. All you have to do is tune in the news to hear about the disunity of our nation and of our world, but aren’t you sick of it? Don’t you long for something more beautiful and more unified; something where we can get along? Don’t you wish you could be part of something where we were working together for a common purpose? That’s what we’re talking about today.

Did you know that one of the last prayers that Jesus ever prayed on earth is recorded in the bible, at length, in John chapter 17; this whole prayer is recorded in the bible. When you think about the Lord’s prayer, you probably think about the one in Matthew, chapter six, the one that you probably memorized if you played on any sports team.

When I was growing up, we would pray the Lord’s Prayer before football practice, a football game or a baseball game. We’d all circle up and pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name…” The truth is, the Lord’s Prayer is the Lord’s teaching prayer. The disciples came to Him and said, ‘Lord, you pray better than anybody. We’ve never heard anybody pray like You. Would You teach us how to pray?’ He shows them how to pray; He teaches them the Lord’s model prayer.

If you want to see how the Lord prays in John 17, lean in today, because we are going to be studying this scripture. I want us to be part of seeing Christ’s last prayer on earth answered in us; In John, chapter 17, John recorded one of Christ’s final prayers for believers, that the Father would make them one with Him with one another and so that the world might believe. I believe, today, that we can yield and we can cooperate with what Jesus has prayed for us and we can become one. We can collaborate for gospel saturation.

As we look at the text today, I think we’ll see three reasons why Christ’s prayer has called us to this collaboration for gospel saturation.

John 17:20-26 (ESV) 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you havegiven me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” This is God’s word. Amen.

We’re looking at three reasons why Christ prayer calls us to collaborate for gospel saturation. Here’s the first reason:

1. Because He has sent us on the same mission.

Notice the word, “one;” it’s there four times in the first few verses of this scripture. Here is Jesus praying, the night before His crucifixion in the garden of Gethsemane; He’s praying for us. He’s praying that we would be unified; that we would work together and that we would be one. To what degree? “As He and the Father are one that we would be one with Him and with the Father .” He invites us into this fellowship of “oneness” to be at one with Him and the Father.

Jesus prays, “I do not ask for these only;” Who are “these only?” He’s talking about the ones that are there with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. He’s talking about the twelve disciples; He’s already been praying for them. We didn’t have time to read the earlier part; maybe later today or this week you could read the earlier part of John 17. He was praying for His disciples that were with Him during that time, but now, He’s transitioning. He is not just praying for them but also for those who will believe (future tense) in Him.

“…but also for those who will believe in me through their word,” who is He praying for now? Who is he praying for, here in John Chapter 17? He’s praying for you; He’s praying for us. He’s praying for me and you right here . Here He is, the night before His crucifixion.

I don’t know what you’d be praying for if you knew your crucifixion was coming, but I think it would be, ‘Lord get me out of here!’ Something like that, but that’s not how He’s praying right here. He’s praying for those who He sees that will believe. How will they believe? They will believe through their word. Whose word? The word of the disciples; He gave them the word that they believed in. Now they’ll preach and through the centuries the word will be passed on so that it comes down to us and now we believe. That’s how we’ve come to faith. Someone told me and someone told you; I’m thankful for that, aren’t you? That someone gave us the word of what Christ had done in them. In Verse 21, Jesus is praying “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” He is praying for our unity. Is that the goal of unity? No, He’s not finished. He’s got a purpose for that. Unity is good; He’s praying that we will be one, but He’s got a purpose for it. Here it comes in verse 21; He says, “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Unity is a great goal and He’s praying for it, but He’s saying it will be the proof that what we preach, the proof of what we proclaim about, Jesus will be believable by the world. The world will look at us and say that we are different from the world. We are not disunified; we all love each other and we are together and at one. It will become like our credibility. We’re the people that have been given the message of reconciliation, that God is no longer counting our sins against us when we believe in Jesus. We are the reconcilers; we are the ambassadors of Jesus who are reconciled in their marriages,with their parents, with their children and with their neighbors. Everywhere we go, we’re carrying reconciliation. That’s our message, but we can’t get along with each other.

Can you see how that undermines our message? It undermines the gospel, but if we’re different from the world in that we have this mark of oneness with one another, regardless of our skin color, regardless of whether we vote “elephant” or “donkey,” regardless of what we believe about these transitory things, we care mostly about seeing the prayer of Jesus come true in us, that we are at one with one another, so that the mission is accomplished that the world would believe.

“The proof is in the pudding,” if you will, that the gospel is real. It is real because of us, because we’re at one. He says it twice; He wants to make sure we get it, when He’s praying Verse 23 says, “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” That word, “perfectly,” has the idea of “completely one.” That they may become perfectly one. Here it comes again, “so that the world may know that you sent me.” Our oneness, our unity gives credibility to the message of the gospel so that the world may know and believe that Jesus is sent by the Father.

This is how Jesus has prayed. Notice that He says three times that He was sent by the Father; it is found in verse 21, verse 23 and again in verse 25. He keeps reminding us that this is what I want the unbelievers to know: I’m sent from the Father. I’m from the Father. That’s the message I want you to tell people: I’m sent.

When He speaks of the world, who is He talking about? Is He talking about planet Earth? No , He’s talking about the unbelieving world. He’s talking about people who don’t believe yet. He’s saying that our oneness that he’s praying for will have an impact on their knowing and believing that Jesus is the one that God sent to save the world. Do you see how important it is that we’re on the same mission and that we are to be as one, collaborating together, working together on this same mission? He wants us to be at one.

In verse 24, He talks about glory. He says, 24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

I don’t know about you, but every time I hit that word, “glory,” I have to think about it for a minute. That word, “glory,” just seems a little bit out of my reach. I always have to remind myself, ‘What does He mean that He has given us His glory that the Father had?’ The Father gave Him glory and then He’s given it to us. What’s He talking about? And so, I begin to think about what the word means.

The Greek word for glory is “doxa.” It’s where we get the words like “doxology,” which is to give glory, words of glory to the Lord. What does it mean? It could be translated as “honor,” “splendor” or “beauty.” What does that mean?

If you start looking at that word, “glory,” throughout the bible, it will say something like “the glory of a young man is his strength” or “the glory of a woman is her long hair.” The glory of the heavens is the shining light of the stars or the glory of the sun; it is their beautiful light. It seems to be that part which attracts the eye or the attention. It’s that part that reveals something that’s hard to define, but it’s glorious and yet, we kind of know. Try to ask a scientist to define beauty or glory; they can’t do it. You can’t put it in a laboratory and package it. You can’t buy a jar that says it contains 95% “glory.” So, what do we mean?

One commentator says that the glory of the Father is revealed in the way Jesus died for us. So, it’s revealed in the cross; His love is revealed. The power of the Father is revealed in the way He’s raised from the dead on the third day. Some would say, ‘Well, the gift of glory given to the church is we have this message of the cross and the empty tomb.’ Some would say that and I think that’s true. That’s a glorious message; it’s good news.

There’s another person in the Trinity that’s not named here. The fact that he’s not named seems like it’s even like he’s more pervasive in this prayer and that’s the Holy Spirit. I started thinking about when glory was given to Jesus, at the very beginning of His ministry, when He was baptized by John the Baptist. The scripture says that the Spirit descended on Him like a dove and His ministry began from that point and then, he gives us the Holy Spirit. I think that has a lot to do with the glory that we’ve been given, the Holy Spirit to live in us as believers. It is worth our meditation to consider thinking about it.

In verse 24, he talks about glory again, but here, it’s not something that’s already given, as in verse 20. In verse 24 it is in a future tense. We’ll talk about that more in just a minute. The future tense “glory” is a whole other thing. Hang on to that thought, we’ll get to that in just a little bit. Our unity and our love for one another lends credibility to our gospel sharing love.

Notice what Jesus said in John 13, he says, John 13:34-35 (ESV) 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” I think that is a reflection of His glory that we are given this otherworldly love for one another, which is evidence that we belong to Him. It gives weight to our message concerning Jesus, speaking of the word, “sent,” that we’ve talked about the resurrected Christ who gave us the spirit and sent us on a mission. We have the same spirit, we have the same mission.

Here’s what he says in John 20:21-22 (ESV) 21 “Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Friends, we should collaborate with one another to tell other people about Jesus because we have the same mission and that’s to tell the world about Christ.

A synonym of “collaborate” is “synergy.” Both mean to “work together.” The teamwork of Belgian draft horses offers a great example. These horses are one of the strongest breeds. One Belgian can pull 8,000 pounds. If you hitch two together, they should be able to pull 16,000 pounds, right? Wrong. Together, two Belgians can easily pull over 24,000 pounds. Well , let me ask you a question, when does one plus one equal three? It’s when you put two Belgian draft horses together and they collaborate because they can pull together £24,000 to £30,000, which is more than double their weight. It’s triple and and what they normally can pull so the truth of this is because of their collaboration because of this synergistic effect that when they work together, they have more power than they do separately together. They have more impact. That’s just true. That’s just true in nature. When you add the Holy Spirit to that, then you get numbers like this.

Jesus says that if you will die to yourself and allow the word of God to be like a seed in your heart to grow, you’ll reproduce 30, 50, 100 times. That’s what you call some powerful, profound synergy, when the Holy Spirit is working in us together. Unity is a good goal. Just getting together is a good goal. When we get together like this today, it is a good goal; we could, also, say, ‘let’s get together with a church that’s slightly different from ours.’ Maybe it’s a predominantly African American church, maybe it’s a church that loves the organ playing with hymns. We’re the church with electric guitars and drum kits. What if, one Sunday, we all go and visit one of these churches and we enjoy the diversity and then, the next Sunday, they come over and visit with us? That would be fun, wouldn’t it? That would give you a taste of something different. That would be a great thing and be a good goal, but you couldn’t do that every Sunday. After a while you might wonder, ‘okay, what are we doing? What is the purpose of what we’re doing? Is it just to celebrate unity?’ But it’s a good goal. See, here is what Jesus is praying in His prayer, ‘I’m praying that they’d be one as we are one, Father, because then, their hearts will break for the lostness in the world that don’t know and believe in Me.’

What will cause the ultimate unity, that we’re on the same mission? The same mission creates something that doesn’t go away and it gives purpose. We can do pulpit swaps, worship team swaps and have tent revivals. We can do things together, but what has to drive it is what Jesus is praying for – that the world may know and believe. Are you understanding what I’m saying? Unity is a good goal, but a better goal is to be on the same mission and then unity supports that.

Here’s the second reason that responding to Christ’s prayer is important:

2. Because He has prepared for us the same destiny.

We’re headed to the same place; we’re going to a “family reunion.” I don’t know how many of you are going to do something today; if you’re going to go cook chicken or hamburgers and hot dogs. Maybe, you will do something today or tomorrow for the Fourth of July.

We’re all headed to the same destiny. We’re now in verse 24 now, What does Christ desire of the Father in verse 24? Look at how that verse starts, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” Here, He is talking in the future tense; He’s not there yet. He’s talking about eternity; He’s talking about heaven now. The glory that the Father had given Him, He’s already given to us; that has passed. We have already talked about that. Now, this is a different glory. This is a manifest glory, where He’s saying what He really really, really wants. We can learn from Jesus in how He prays. He desires something; He wants something.

Just think about this: What does He want? He wants you and I to be with Him physically, so that we see Him and hear Him, not just by faith, but by sight. When faith becomes sight. John writes about this in 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Jesus is praying to the Father, ‘I want those that You gave to me, but, I don’t just want them. I want them to be with Me. I want them to see My glory.’ There’s a glory that we haven’t beheld yet; there’s a revelation of Christ we haven’t had yet. ‘I want them to see Me as I truly am.’ See, His glory was hidden in the flesh that He took on, “shen the word became flesh,” in John 1:14, “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” There was glory in the way that He would heal, the way that He would speak, the way that He would touch and the power that He would reveal. There would be little flashes of it that would spark out like lightning bolts out of Him, but it was hidden. His ultimate glory was hidden, except for that one day when He said, ‘Peter, get “the sons of thunder,” James and John and come with me. We’re going to hike up a mountain. They went up on top of a mountain, to the mount of transfiguration.

“Transfiguration” is the translation of the word, “metamorphosis.” You can read about this in Matthew, chapter 17. They go up on the mountain and it’s as if the Lord pulled the curtain, the veil of separation, between heaven and earth. He pulled it back a crack; just a little bit. When Jesus did this, Peter, James and John saw Jesus in his glory. His clothing became like lightning and His face shone like the sun. It was blinding. Then they looked and Jesus was talking to two other fellows. Two other fellows walked up there on that mountain; it was Moses and Elijah. Peter, you know Peter, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. We should learn from Peter, there’s a time to be quiet. The veil is pulled back and Peter sees them. He says, ‘I’ve got a good idea. Let’s build three tabernacles up here: The tabernacle of Elijah, the Tabernacle of Moses and the Tabernacle of Jesus. Then, the Father’s voice is heard. Basically, He tells Peter to be quiet, ‘this is My beloved Son, listen to Him.’ The veil closes, but there’s a day coming when we shall see Him as He is and we’ll share in this time when we will see Him.

You can read, in the book of Revelation, about this sea of glass that goes before His throne and you’ll see Him in all of his glory. You’ll hear the angelic host singing, “Holy Holy Holy.” There’s a day coming when we will see Him in His glory.

John, chapter 17, is the apex of what some have called, “the farewell discourses of Jesus,” that began back in chapter 13, where Jesus is moving his Disciples to recognize what’s coming. In chapter 14, He says something to try to talk about this destiny because He’s been telling him that He’s going to be crucified and He’s going to rise again. They have “boo boo faces” with their lower lip stuck out; ‘no, we don’t want that to happen.’

Then Jesus says this in John 14:1-3 (NKJV) 1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” Here He is ; He was talking to the disciples back there in chapter 14.

Now, He is in chapter 17 and He’s praying to the Father: ‘Remember what You promised Me before we even made the world, before the foundation of the world?’ See, there never was a time when Christ was not. He has always existed. He’s the eternal member of the Trinity – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. ‘Remember what We talked about before we ever made Adam and Eve? Remember, back there, before We made anything, You promised Me that someday they would be with Me and We would be one and they would behold My glory?’

I’m trying to get my mind around this. There’s some things that you are able to do and some things I’m able to do that are expressions of the giftedness that He’s given us. We have a desire to show it; we love for that person to receive it as love.

My wife went to get groceries yesterday morning. I think she left the house around 11:00 am. As soon as she left, I went out in that oppressive heat. I “wilted” as soon as I walked out the door. We have a rose bush and different kinds of flowering bushes around the house. I thought I would surprise her. When she comes back, I’ll help unload the groceries, and then she’ll come into the kitchen and there’ll be a vase of roses and something else I’ve cut. and I’m pretty good at gardening. I wanted to share the glory of my effort, the glory of the Father in the flowers and the glory of the love that I had for her. Why did I do all of that? I was “showing off” because that’s what love does. I wasn’t showing off for her to look at me. It was more of how I feel about her. I’m trying to understand this, that Jesus would pray that you could know Him, see Him and love Him in all of His glory. That’s the future destiny of the church. People, we are on the same path. We’re going to the same “family reunion.” Let’s work together.

Here’s the third reason:

3. Because He has made us members of the same family.

He has made us members of the same mission, same destiny and same family. We’re in verses 25 and 26 now. Circle the word, “father.” If we would have had time to read all of chapter 17, He refers to God as Father six times. The Jews didn’t pray like this; they prayed to the king, they prayed to the Lord, but Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Our father, which art in heaven.” In verse 25, He says, “Oh, righteous Father, which sounds a lot like, “Oh, holy Father.” The Jews prayed to God more in a distant fashion; that was their practice. Here, Jesus says, ‘Abba, Father, oh holy Abba, I’m praying to You.’

We’re learning something here; you see, there’s three words that I want you to pick up here at the end that support this idea of the same family: father, known and loved. These are familial words. They point to the fact that Jesus is praying for His family, which is the family of people Who believe in Him. He’s teaching us to pray to the Father and He’s also showing us how He is praying.

25 “O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.” The world doesn’t know You, righteous Father, holy Father. The world doesn’t know You, but I know You. I know You. He is praying for those disciples around Him there in the Garden of Gethsemane. They knew Him.

If you’re a believer in Jesus today, you know the Father and you know that He sent Jesus. But, the world doesn’t know. He says in verse 26, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” The spirit of Christ is going to be in them, so the love of Christ is going to be in them. They’re going to be that family that knows You and loves You. This is why we should work together because we’re family.

Now, when you get together, maybe today or tomorrow, your crazy uncle is going to be there. Your brother in law is going to be there and, heaven help us, your mother-in-law is probably going to show up. They are family and so you will sit at the same table and try your best to get along, right? That’s what families do.

Here’s what Jesus is praying; He’s saying that there’s a family that’s bigger than what is seated here right now or those gathering at churches all over Wilson County and Nash County right now. Those that believe in Jesus as the Son of God and the only way to be right with God. They believe that they’re called to be on a mission to tell others about the love of Jesus, how he died for our sins and how he rose again to save us. Those are our family and we’re to work together on the same mission. We’re headed to the same family reunion, the same destiny and we are members of the same family. We might not look alike and talk alike. We might not listen to the same kind of music. Some of us like the vinegar-based eastern barbecue and some of us like the tomato-based western barbecue. Some of us make a big deal about what type of blue we wear, whether it’s UNC blue, Duke blue or whatever kind of blue . Heaven help us because we must love each other.

There’s this fellow named J. I. Packer, who some years ago wrote a classic book called, “Knowing God.” In this book J. I. Packer opens up with this question, He says, “What were you made for?” The answer he gives is, “To know God. That’s the highest calling, just to know the one Who made you.” He already knows you; He knows your name. The scripture says that He knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows you and He wants you.

Here is how Jesus is praying, ‘Lord, I want them to be with Me. I’m going to keep on making You known until they know You the way I know You. He’s the eternal God. He’s the omnipotent, everlasting God. You’ll never know Him completely because it’s going to take you eternity to get started.

I don’t know what you’ve studied in life. Some of you might be experts at something, but you’ll never be an expert on Jesus. He’s the expert. He wants you to get to know God better; you were made for it. That’s why you exist; to know God. You see, He wants to adopt you into His family .

Ephesians 1:5 (NLT) “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” You’re wanted. He loves you; He wants to adopt you into His family.

The problem is that we’re worldly. We still have the flesh hanging on in us. We get divisive with each other. It didn’t take long for the church at Corinth to get that way. Look how Paul writes to them in 1 Corinthians 3:4-9 (NLT) 4 “When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow… 9 Forwe are both God’s fellow workers.” We are co-laborers, collaborators for the gospel.

It’s like Paul recognized his place. ‘I’m the planter, I come in, that’s what I do. I plant churches and Apollos is a better preacher. He comes in behind me and waters, but we’re a team. None of the results belong to us anyway. They belong to the Father. We’re just servants; we are co-laborers with the Father.’ It didn’t take long for the church at Corinth to start dividing and saying, ‘I like preacher Paul the best.’ ‘No, my favorite preacher is Apollos.’ It was almost like they were starting new denominations. That’s what the world always does; it always divides.

Friends, when you leave here, can I challenge you as believers? Don’t go around bragging about me. Don’t go around bragging about our worship team to other church members or other people. ‘We have the best preacher,’ no start bragging about jesus, stop bragging about your church or about your pastor. Do you know who I am? I’m a sinner saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus. I’m just one of you. If there’s anything worth anything in me, you caught a glimpse of Jesus doing something in me. You keep praying for me and I’m praying for you, that we’ve become more like Jesus and that, when we celebrate, we give glory, we give it to Him.

If you hear somebody talking bad about another church and they say, ‘you know that church across town….’ I want you to say to them, ‘I love you brother (or sister) but I don’t think you ought to be talking about the family.’ We are family. I just want you to think about the kind of church we want to be, that we are the kind of church that brags on Jesus. My mom used to say, “If you don’t have something good to say about somebody, don’t say anything at all.” Let’s be the church that brags on Jesus.

I saw something in a novel that I was reading recently; it wasn’t a Christian book but I was reading it and I thought this was pretty insightful. In the novel, this person was unhappy and was asked three things. These three things will make you happy: (1) Do you have someone to love? (2) Do you have something to do? (3) Do you have something to look forward to? I thought that was pretty insightful. Then I started thinking about this sermon today and I thought, let’s take it a step higher. We know something that this novel didn’t mention. This novel was saying something about how to be happy: (1) Someone to love, (2) Something to do, (3) Something to look forward to. I started thinking about someone to love; the Lord loves you. He loves you and He wants the love of God in you. You have someone that loves you and you have Someone you can love. (2) Something to do, so you have a family you can love and the Lord. You have a mission. It’s the best mission on planet earth. Tell others about Jesus; you’re the keeper of the Good News. You are the messengers of reconciliation and then (3) Something to look forward to. You have the same destiny. We have a “family reunion” coming. Jesus has already prepared it and He’s prayed for it. He’s going to reveal Himself completely to us. That day is coming. Someone to love, something to do, something to look forward to. Let’s start loving each other and working together to see the gospel go forth in our world today.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your word. I don’t know what people know about me, but I want them to know one thing. I want them to know Your Word. I want them to know You, Jesus. I pray for that person right now, in my hearing, maybe they’re listening and watching online. Maybe they’re next door in our Gathering Place or maybe they’re under my hearing right now, in this very room. You came in today, far from God. You came in knowing that you’re not part of the family, but you’re interested and as you’ve been listening, you have felt the knocking at your heart’s door of the Lord, Jesus saying, ‘I want you. I’m praying for you. I want you to know the Father. I want you to know the love of the Father.’ Would you, right now , right where you’re at pray with me, ‘Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner, but I believe You died on the cross for my sin, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. I invite you, right now, to come and live in me as my Lord and Savior, forgive me of my sin and make me a child of God. Adopt me into the family and I’ll follow you.’ If you’re praying that prayer, believing, He will save you. He’s been praying for you. He wants you. Others are here and you have to respond to this prayer that He’s praying for you to be at one with Him and with one another. There is somebody here, and I just want the Holy Spirit to do this right now, there’s you’re not right with another believer, you’re mad at them or they’re mad at you. They go to the same church, they go to another church, you know them at work or school or in the neighborhood. My goodness, it might be someone in your own family right now. Holy Spirit, would You touch us and show us how You want us to be reconciled to that person? I pray right now, as a church, that we would be people of reconciliation. Right now, would you just give that to the Lord and say, ‘Lord? I say yes. I will be reconciled. I will do my part to be reconciled and find forgiveness with that person because You’ve prayed, Lord, for oneness.’ Lord, we lift it up to You now in Jesus’ name. Amen.