Three Stands - The importance of Unity and Commitment

Intro

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 NKJV

Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Okay, we all know these verses and have probably used these verses in a wedding… but I have come to love these verses outside of the context of weddings, because they are really not about a husband and wife… they are about friends… close friends… friends in battle.

When Pastor Jerry asked me if there was something on my heart to share with the group, this verse was screaming at me… especially because I was dealing with some heartbreak in the church...

You guys I am sure have all experienced this in the church… someone you have poured into… someone you have spent dozens if not hundreds of hours with...

Someone who maybe got saved in your, or married in your church… discipled in your church...

And then they just leave… maybe they got offended… or they got bored… or they didn’t feel fed or whatever...

It’s incredibly painful… and if you guys are as petty as me you might even stalk them on facebook....

I actually do a thing with my kids… when people they know leave the church… leave, not sent… there is a difference between sent and went...People who just went and left....

We follow them on facebook and when they stop going to church all together… beacuase they almost always say “I am going to a new church” but often times they just stop going all together...

So I show my kids when their life falls apart… time and time again, divorces, illness, poverty, addictions… we how our kids “Hey remember this family that left the church because they were angry… this is their life now…

Because I want them to know what happens when you leave the brethren… when you leave the flock… because a cord of three strands is not easily broken, but a cord of one strand is…

But you all have experienced all of that… you know what that is like… here is what the Lord wanted me to speak on was this… Can we not treat each other like this, as VFC North America… can we be commited enough to not do this to one another.. to not just leave, not just run… not just give up...

Because God called me to Him when I was 16, and I am not going to leave Him, or give up on Him, or run away from Him...

And God called me to VFC when I was 23… and there was much prayer and fasting, we were called by Pastor Rick, and sent from Pastor Connie And Daniel… I know that God has called us here, and for the past 15 years I have learned that there is blessing with sticking with that commitment, and there is dangers in pushing against it… there is blessing with being united with VFC and rebelling against VFC… and it is not even a practical thing, it is a Spiritual truth...

So I will tell you right out, I want us as pastors to be like this three cord strand… I know we all have our networks, and our friends, and our cities that we are involved with… we all have unique challenges and day to day work that we are all busy with… but I believe that God has called us all to VFC, and that this group can be more than just a group of people who occasionally meet together and zoom together… but that we can be a three fold, or twenty fold strand and as such we will be so much stronger and effective for the kingdom of God.

So two things to talk about this afternoon, Unity and commitment… And for each there is blessings and warnings… and I don’t want to preach at you, most of you are preachers… but I do just want to encourage and maybe cast some vision for what VFC North America could be, I believe what we will be, when we really bring things to he next level of Unity and Commitment.

Alright, what do you guys want to talk about first? Unity or Commitment? Commitment? Great! Let’s talk Commitment!

Commitment

I want you to think about how you got connected with VFC… How did your relationship with VFC start? I really want you to think about it because it is hard to argue with testimony...

I hope you all have a testimony about how you got connected… for me it happened -> Share Testimony… Pastor Rick.. never work with… prayer and fasting… going to Singapore...

Commitment get’s tested… you get angry, you get frustreated… you disagree with things… what is going to break commitment?

Testimony about time in Singapore… angry, frustreated… trust the fruit...

Blessing: IHOP Testamony

Warning: People who have left… fall away… when people leave our church… same when people VFC… I don’t want that for us...

1 Corinthians 15:58 NKJV

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Unity

1 Corinthians 1:10 NKJV

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

This is a hard verse… Now I am a Biblical literalist… I take scripture literally… We are all to speak the same thing… perfectly joined together...

How does that work when there are people who deny the holy spirit… people who affirm LGBTQ...

I don’t know… but I know the people in this room can be united… The same heart, the same vision, the same doctrine....

VFC is unique amongst churches… the heart for discipleship… the heart for missions… (Antioch Missions verses CLC missions)… I think God will bless VFC NA as a united body because I really believe we have His heart for missions...

Warning… when we are disunified the work slows… it grinds two a halt… mismatched gears stop the whole machine… But if we are going to be unified we must make the conscience decision to be unified...

Blessings… God blesses unity… we don’t have to reinvent the wheel… Growth Track testimony… it bugs me how it is written… but I chose Unity over my own preferences…

Ending

Vission of VFC unity not just amongst pastors, but amongst churches...

Imagine a VFC NA confrence with all our people, gathered together to pray and fast and recieve vission...

People who all give to MFP and have been through growth track… and have a heart for the nations and church planting...

I want to help you buy your building, I want to help you send out leaders, I want your help… I think we can do so much together.