One People United
Notes
Transcript
Im going to keep it short today and you know when a pastor says that it means.....absolutely nothing. Right!
Basic introduction of yourself
Stephen Hause
Pastor at Melwood Church in Upper Marlboro
Isn’t it wonderful to be together today in worship?
There are plenty of examples today in our world where we can see division, separation and even in the church while we might not be divided because we dislike one another....but in my experience I wouldn’t call the church universal a UNITED CHURCH
-working in harmony with each other in order to accomplish the same purposes and goals
This event has been birthed out of many hours of prayer and sitting at Jesus’s feet crying out
-I have been in the church my whole life as my dad was a pastor and the times I can remember kingdom advances in huge ways was when the church despite our denomination affiliation would come together and work for the good of the community.
This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”
-There was a sense of Lord how do we make this happen how can one church work for the welfare of the city in any meaningful way.
- the Lord said you’re not alone......there are other churches who are working fort the same goal
-I found Pastor Fletcher from Faith City and when I asked him if they were doing anything in response to the riots and the civil unrest he said....yeah now you mention it we want to do a prayer rally.
-Jesus had started a work in 2 different people’s hearts and brought them to a place where they could work together.
-It is my hope and dream for the church body as a whole can start to come together because Jesus has called us and equipped us .....but that equipping is not all the same.
This is where we found the inspiration for the scripture that gives a foundation to our goal and purpose behind our gathering today.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
The Holy Spirit is the source
-He blesses us with all the Spiritual gifts we have and need
-preaching, teaching, expanding the gospel work, miracles, healing, leadership, tongues
-These are tools the Spirit gifts us to accomplish what he has asked us to do ....
-just as when he told Moses....I’ll give you everything you need and I’ll give you the words to say
Seek Jesus first
-we need to seek him because we want him....not the blessings we want from him.
-Fall in love with Jesus all over again....
-When we spend time at his feet the priorities of life will change
-Pastor if you are here today you can’t spend time in the word and prayer just for sermon material
-What is his will ? Seek him first! Love him First and love others second
-When you look at 1 Corinthians 12 and hear this message it is interesting to see what comes next.
So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.
But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.
BUT NOW LET ME SHOW YOU A WAY OF LIFE THAT IS BEST OF ALL....
-Chapter 13 love
Seek Jesus first and fall in love with him and in his Spirit, word he has called us to love others for him and he will give us everything we need to accomplish that ....
-the pressure is not on us.
-we will star to see with spiritual eyes and we will start to see our brothers and sisters in Christ not as the competition to building our particular brand of church.....let that sink in...
We can see the body as how we are meant to be.....team members, parts that are vital to success.
we are the strength for one another NOT A THREAT TO ONE ANOTHER!
That’s easy, but how do we work together with other parts of the body?
Look at your hand.....if you think about the digits on your hand
we can talk about how we work together as the hand works together
Index finger-first finger.... prominent , a leader maybe this describes you or your ministry in the community, a church that is visible and prominent because of the tenure and ministry in the community.
Middle Finger- second finger.....usually displaying emotion, but also a finger that brings strength to the rest of the hand. You might not be as flashy and a leader like the index finger, but your ministry provides strength to the community in which you serve
Ring Finger- Usually looked at first on the hand. Covered with jewlery its flashy. Your ministry maybe one thats up front and in the spotlight. There is a pressure that comes with ministry like that, but you need to know as well that you aren’t alone and that you have partners that can work with you to support you.
Little Finger- the smallest of the fingers, but you can tell when it’s not there....not everyone is called to have a large ministry and in the grand scheme of the community if all our small churches were to disappear our communities would be in trouble. the small and mid size churches are the churches that are reaching the masses and not the large churches like we sometimes imagine.
Thumb- Separated from the rest of the fingers and many times not even thought of as a finger....it called the thumb. Awkward at times and takes alot of abuse in doors, hammers. Maybe today your minsitry feels like a thumb....out there on your own, but you also need to know that you dont have to be on your own.
Church I think you get it....we need each finger on the hand to function as it is designed to function. We need each expression of the body of christ to function as God has set you in your community to function, but the part we miss is
-each church has an army available to them in the body of Christ.
-we can be an example to the world that can revolutionize how they see and understand the body of Christ.
-we need to be the source of love because we are connected to the source of love.
-We need to be the answer to the problems, because we are connected to the answer of all the problems