Are You Ready for Unity?

0:00 Oh, man, that just fires me up. And what I love about, you know, you hear a story like that. A lot of you guys know Sarah. You know Rob. And so then when you hear about what their past was like, you're like, no way. There's no way. And that's exactly what we should be saying. That's what Jesus does. It's like, there's no way. How do you? I know you now. Like, like, I don't see any of the, you know, it's kind of like when Shadrach, and Meshach and Abednego were thrown in that fire, you know, and then they come out, you know, and the king's like, no way. You don't even smell like smoke, they say. And that's what I feel about Rob and Sarah. You can't even smell the old aroma, you know? You don't even, it's like, I don't even smell the smoke. I don't even see the leftovers from that lifestyle. Like, you really are a new creation. Like the Bible says, it's like, I can't even believe. Yeah. And I love what she said at the end. Like maybe you didn't have that type of lifestyle. That doesn't mean you don't need a savior. I mean, I see the wickedness in my own life. And you know what? I've never even smoked pot. I know it's embarrassing. Um, I, I, I, I, I, I've got drunk like one and a half times, maybe, you know, like it was my accident. It was one was at a pastor's conference and and they were drinking wine. I'm like, all right. And then I'm like, wow, Rachel was with me. I'm like, honey, you got to hold me up. I can't. And yet, even though my life, my past doesn't look like that, man, I know what's going on in this mind. There's secrets in my life that I don't feel like just standing up here and telling all of you. I desperately needed a savior.

2:04 and i can stand up here saying you know what there's no shame left he washed it all away i'm white as snow i'm the righteousness of jesus my life is insanely good i can't even believe it and that's what he does that's why we're here we're not here to listen anymore we're here to celebrate him and what he's done in our lives man i just love i love i love this church i love hearing these testimonies of what Jesus has done. I love that no one wants to take glory. It's like we want him to get all the glory because we know what he saved us from. So I don't know if you guys did the reading this morning, but there was a verse or a couple of verses that I really love that I just want to point out and make our theme today because it just hit me this morning. It was in 1 Corinthians, which I love the book of 1 Corinthians.

3:00 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Listen to what he says. Chapter 3, verse 3. While there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, I follow Paul and another, I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? That's such a great phrase. He goes, what are you doing? You guys are acting like humans.

3:35 This is what humans do. That's not what we do. Okay. They go, oh, I love this guy, Paul. I love this guy, Paul's. I like them more. He goes, that's human talk. He goes, when you start doing that and compare this speaker to that speaker, this band to that band, you know, and there's these divisions among you, you're acting like the rest of the world. You're acting like mere humans. And God says, that's not what we do. You understand as a church, he says, I want you to be holy because you're not just humans. Man, I hear that phrase. Sometimes some of you in the church, you may have said this. What do you expect from me? I'm just a man. I'm just a woman. I'm human. no you're not just a man you're not just a woman you're not just a human he goes on to explain you're a temple of the holy spirit of god okay so we don't do things like the rest of the world does it we're different from them we're supposed to be a light to the world and so if there's divisions among us which it always amazes me that in the book of first corinthians remember what the Corinthian church was like. You had so much immorality. They were getting drunk during communion. Okay. And Paul has to confront that. They are suing each other. Couples are divorcing from one other. Men were sleeping with their stepmoms. I mean, it was just an immorality.

5:08 He says that's not even in the world. I mean, it's all this craziness. They're fighting. Everyone's trying to speak in tongues and be louder than the other guy. They weren't even believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ anymore. Sinking through the book of all the things that he addresses, and yet with all the things that are going on that are so disgusting, the first thing he says. As I hear there's divisions among you. Here's how you guys are fighting. And you like this guy's opinion more. This guy, you guys are acting like humans. It's just crazy to me that with all this stuff, I mean, there were people that are saying, oh, I heard a word from the Lord. Jesus is cursed. I mean, just ridiculous things going on. And Paul's like that. But with all of that, the first thing he addresses is, hey, I hear there's division.

6:07 Division in the body of Christ. I bring this up because I just, I want to make sure we're different from the world. Right now, everyone's so volatile, right? Everyone's just mad. And everyone wants you to take sides on different issues. You know, whether it's politics, sexuality, you know, race. like we're just trying the world is just so like ready to fight about anything don't say anything about this person or this person you know and what god wants is my church is different they won't divide they're not going to divide they're not going to act like humans no not here not here and there were some verses that we read this week in uh if you're doing the readings which i hope you are. Because that's what sets us apart. We don't wake up and just think about ourselves.

7:09 We wake up and recognize, I actually woke up. That means someone's giving me another day of life. Man, in fact, I'm all over the place today. God taught me so much. But last weekend, and I was in Brazil. Any Brazilians here? No? Oh, you got one. Obrigado.

7:33 But I'm in Brazil at a churrascaria. Amen. And they come around with all the meat and everything. But I was speaking at this conference too, but which is the main reason I went. And but I just felt led by the Lord like. because they gave me this topic on one of my talks on making sure God gets all the glory. And we just started, it felt like God wanted me to read Revelation 4, describing that scene in heaven, and then those angels that day and night never cease to say, holy, holy, holy is a Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come. And I really believe that God didn't want me to preach anymore, that he just wanted us to spend the next half of my talk, the next 25 minutes saying, holy, holy, holy is a Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come in Portuguese.

8:39 And I said, does that disappoint you? That I fly all the way from America. And what we're going to do for the next 25 minutes is we're going to join that chorus of the angels and just say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And yet thousands of people in Portuguese, Santo, Santo, Santo, Senhor, Deus Todo Poderoso. You know, just I'm saying it wrong, but, you know, just it's getting louder. We're screaming. We're jumping up and down. We're running all over the place just screaming those words. Because I'm saying these angels, man, they were made for that. That's what God made them. God wanted them to do that day and night. He made them.

9:35 And some of us hear that. What day and night are they doing it right now? And they're doing it last night when I went to bed. Honestly, some of us hear that and we go, gosh that seems a little monotonous that seems boring i don't know if i could do that you know because we don't even like to sing the same worship songs two weeks in a row right and and some of us well i didn't really like all the songs today i like two of the songs and this this is amen and you hear phrases like i didn't really like worship today and it hit me that is one of the stupidest sentences you could ever say i i didn't really like the worship Think about that. Did it ever occur to you that we weren't worshiping you?

10:31 Like, did it ever occur to you that we don't really care? In your own mind, did you think, man, what is worship? And that God, isn't he the one we're trying to please? And I'll tell him, you know, in conferences, we need this man and then this man. We have four or five different bands. Why? Because of you, not because of him. He made these angels to say this over and over and over, and he likes it. We know he likes it. So I said, let's do it. And in place, we were just going nuts. I mean, we went beyond our time. We just didn't even want to stop. And I just encouraged them. I said, hey, what if we roll out of bed every morning and join him? What if those are the first words out of our lips?

11:28 You know, it's just to wake up and go, oh, yeah, it's not about me. Let me join in that chorus and stare at that throne and just say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, because that's what I use my lips for, is to lift up his name and not my own. and so it's just been cool getting these emails from people in Brazil just saying, yeah, I do that every morning now. You know, we get together and that's just what we say.

11:59 It's just so cool. But I was in our reading this week. I mean, all that I didn't mean to bring up, but Romans 14, verse 1, he says, as for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him. but not to quarrel over opinions. He says not to quarrel over opinions. In fact, the verse I really hit, Romans 12, verse 16, never be wise in your own sight. never be wise in your own sight isn't that a great verse never be wise in your own sight that's why he says okay that's that's what the world does everyone's tweeting their thoughts because they're so wise everyone blogs because they're so wise it's like here let me state my opinion after every news article on the internet someone they everyone types in their wisdom here's what i think here's what i think here's what i think in in the church it's got to be different we go look my thoughts are not his thoughts as high as the heavens are above the earth that's how high his thoughts are how much higher his thoughts are than my thoughts. So I'm not up here to give you opinion. As a church, we tremble at the word of God. In Isaiah 66 verse 2, this is the one to whom I'll look. He was humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. This is how we can be different people. As people are out there expressing their opinions and fighting and quarreling over opinions. Here's what I think is most important. Here's what I think is what he says. Hey, as a church, you don't do that

14:04 because you're not wise in your own eyes. We don't act like mere humans and we don't lift our thoughts up real high. We tell people, I actually don't think that anything real profound has come out of this mind. But what I do believe his thoughts are so much higher than his. Man, that's that's great. That's your opinion. I've got my opinions. But honestly, I don't value your opinion that much. I don't value my opinion that much, but I tremble at his words. I tremble at his words. And we just want to be different from the world. Where we don't think of ourselves as brilliant. In verse 19 of Romans 14, so then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. so then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding okay everyone else can fight everyone can fight for who's right who's wrong but in the church we're different okay we don't quarrel over opinions we don't value our own opinions we don't think we're that wise in our own eyes. We tremble at his word. And when we get together, we pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding. I mean, this is the time the church has got to be so different.

15:33 What if people that are just on the edge and dealing with other people that are on the edge and having to, you know, don't you feel like you're just having to walk on eggshells with every word you say because it's like oh gosh um that white i mean caucasian i mean swedish what do i call you you know like i i want to i i did i say the wrong thing like the world like you better just get every word just right otherwise you're gonna have a fight there's gonna be an explosion. There's gonna be an all out war. But what if we were different? It's like where we don't get offended. You know? It's just like, yeah, you said Oriental, but I'm really Asian like that. I don't care. You know, what if we were different, you know? And.

16:30 Yesterday we were with this kid who spoke Korean and my wife looks at him and says, Konnichiwa. Like, I'm sorry for her, you know. It's okay, it's okay. She was kidding. That was cute.

16:56 What if we just did things that were just, that wasn't really up-building. Sorry, honey. But it was funny. Let me just stick to scripture. Romans 15. Let me read Romans 15. He continues in the next chapter, verse 1. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. for Christ did not please himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of those who approached you fell on me. For whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.

17:54 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. Isn't that great? So that's what we do when we get together. Okay? We're not looking to please ourselves.

18:26 Okay? This is not about this consumer-driven type of gathering where it's like, well, I come for me. He goes, no, no, no, that's not what we do. That's what humans do. That's not what Christ did. He was 100% human, but he's also 100% God. And the same way, I'm 100% human, but I'm also 100% the righteousness of God. And I'm a temple of the Holy Spirit. I'm not just a human being. Okay. And so what I do is I act like Christ. Christ did not please himself. he sought to build us up. When you came today, was that your mindset? Or did you come here like a human being? Or did you go, you know what? I'm going to come here like Christ. Who cares what I like? I'm not here to please myself.

19:19 I'm here to build others up. I have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, not to please myself. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. Man, I just want that. He says we have the mind of Christ. That's who we are. This is another like just one last thought I want to share today and then I'm done. And it has nothing to do with the other thoughts. I just didn't know how to blend it. But I wanted to say it because it was something God has shown me lately.

19:58 When we read the book of Mark, there was a passage that jumped out at me that you're probably familiar with. Mark chapter 8. it says calling the crowd to him with his disciples he said to them if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul so he just says hey if anyone wants to follow me Jesus everyone's following me he's gonna have to deny himself okay it can't be about you you got deny yourself you're not here to please yourself anymore if you're gonna follow me he's gonna have to pick up your cross and follow me that means die to yourself then he makes a promise He goes, if anyone tries to save his life, I promise you, you'll lose it.

21:02 That's a promise. Okay, let's admit it. Most of us want to save our lives to some degree, right? I kind of like this. I kind of like this. I kind of like this. I don't want to lose this. I don't want to lose this. Let's just be honest. There's nothing wrong with that. But he says, but if you do try to save all these things, I promise you, you'll lose it.

21:29 But if you let it go, you lose it for my sake. And for the gospel sake, you'll find it. It's like if if someone handed me like a hot slice of pizza right now. The smart thing to do would be to eat it.

21:50 The dumb thing is like, I want to try to save this as long as I can. Let me Ziploc it. Let me freeze it. Let me shrink wrap thing. Let me just see how long I can save this pizza. It's like, well, that's dumb. It's going to go bad. It's meant to be eaten. And that's what he's saying here. He goes, your life is meant to be spent. Okay, for the gospel, we're going to die. Okay, like, what are you going to just try to live as long as you can? Is he going to try to preserve your body, make it look like you're still 30? You know, like, what are you going to do? Let's just see how long we can preserve ourselves. Oh, that's funny. He says, no, you do that.

22:42 And he goes, you're going to lose your life. But he says, you know, I'm asking you to let go of your life. Just lose it. Just spend it and you'll find it. He goes, that's a promise. Lose it for the sake of the gospel. I don't know what God's called you to. There may be some of you that God's calling you to some awesome, amazing, terrifying adventure. That's kind of what our church is about. It's like I want all of you to be able to go anywhere on the earth and you'll be fine. Because you know how to study the word for yourself. You read it every morning. You know how to make disciples. You know how to baptize. You know how to be the church. You don't need a building. You don't need an offering. You just gather with other believers. It's about just releasing you to do something amazing rather than protecting and saving. So last week when I was in Brazil, last story, this pastor, I'm having lunch with him, and I'm telling him, man, your church is really cool because they were doing some really unique things.

23:46 He goes, yeah, it is. But he goes, I see what you guys are doing. I want to do that. He and he said this, he goes, my my church still feels like a zoo. And I go, what do you mean by that? And he goes, you ever see the movie Madagascar? Have you seen Madagascar? Great movie. If you haven't seen it, rent it tonight. I mean, it's our buy it or it's probably a Netflix. I mean, Madagascar, it's just it's it'll change your your life. it's about these zoo animals, okay? These zoo animals. And the opening scene is the zebra, and he's on a treadmill in the zoo. And he's staring at a painting of like a jungle. And he's just like dreaming like he's in the wild, right? And it's his 10th birthday. And, you know, so then the giraffe and the hippo and the lion all come into his cage, you know, at night, you know, when people can't see. In the New York Zoo, they, you know, they all come in and have a birthday party for him. And he's just like, man, my life's half over. And all I've done is I've been in the zoo my whole life. I want to, I want to experience the wild. And the lion's like, why?

25:04 Man, here they bring you meat. Oh, meat every day. I know when it's going to come. You know, every day everyone comes to the zoo and I roar and they cheer for me. You know, why would I leave? The giraffe's like, yeah, you know, they're just all kind of going down. Why would you want to go in the wild? But he's just something inside of him. And, you know, and so when that pastor said, he goes, what we've done in the church is we've created these cages. It's like a zoo where with the only way we know how to exist is if I show up to a building and I put my kids in this cage and my youth in this cage. And then I stand in this cage and someone feeds me and I kind of like it. Let's just do it over and over and over and over again. But meanwhile, I think there's something inside of us that's like, man, I want to get out. I want to get out in the world. There's more than this, man. I know by the power of the Holy Spirit, it's in my DNA that I can do something so powerful.

26:05 And then everyone starts talking. Oh, no, no, no. But why, why, why? It's so nice in here. It's so, you know, good in here. And just every week they bring us meat. And it's like, I don't even know if I could teach my own kids. I don't even know if I could walk with my kids. I don't know if I could counsel other people. I don't know if I could help. I don't know if I could lead someone else to Jesus. I don't know if I could be in a place and actually read the Bible for myself.

26:29 Let me just go back to this cage. And as he was talking, I was like, man. and there's a part of me you know as a pastor for years where I go gosh I trained people to live in the zoo I domesticated them to where they didn't know how to live out you can't you can't go to San Francisco Zoo right now and just throw all those animals back in the jungle they'll all die because they haven't been raised to live in the wild and so in the movie Madagascar you know they finally they break out the penguins help them and you know and they they end up on the island in this wild and the the lion's still you know doing his goofy two-footed thing and and the zebra's just like running alongside him like no you're a lion who's the lion who's the you know and they're just running and suddenly all these feelings start coming back and then you know he has this desire to even eat his buddy you know the the zebra because it's like wow all the animal instinct and he just starts roaring and it's just like all this power, like because he was back in the environment he was created to be in.

27:37 And I just thought, man, it was just such a clear picture of me last week. I'm the zebra. That's my job is to tell you, man, you can survive out there. It's what you were made for. You've got so much power. You're not just a human being. Don't act like just a human being. Don't act like a zoo animal. God made you for more, and I think you know that. And I'm excited to release. That's what we're all about, is releasing people back into the world. Go back to your workplace. Change everyone in there. You go out there. You be the light. You act different. You be the impact. That's what he made us for. Don't try to save your life. you'll lose it. Go out there, take some risks, do some crazy things. I understand the jungle is more dangerous than the zoo, but it's what we're made for. It's what we're created for.

28:41 And if you try to keep yourself safe, you're going to lose your life. Man, I hope there's just story after story that we'll talk about in eternity, you know, because we'll all go our separate ways, start different churches and different places and go on all sorts of adventures and then come back at the feet of God, lay our crowns down, thank him for this amazing life, thank him for his word that we trembled at. We live in crazy times, but I'm not really worried about it. You know, I think the world's going to get crazier, but that's what we were made for, is to stand up in that. So don't be afraid. Let's stick together. Let's build each other up. Let's send each other out. Let's look out for one another. But at the end of the day, we know who lives in us. We're not just human beings.

29:33 We're temples of the Holy Spirit. Maybe there's some of you today who you just, maybe you just need some prayer because you just feel like you so resonate with what I'm talking about. But you've just been suppressed all this time And maybe God's given you visions of things you're supposed to do, and you've been scared and you just need some brothers or sisters to lay hands on you and pray for you and remind you of who you are and encourage you that that spirit that's in you would just rise up again. Others of you, maybe you heard Sarah's talk and you go, Gosh, I don't understand this life you're talking about. I hear you talking up there, Francis, but I don't have this inner like confidence that God is with me. I don't know if I've been forgiven, man. Again, please, as we take communion, as we as we worship, there'll be people up front that will pray for you and pray with.