February 2, 2025 • 50 mins
Discover the transformative power of "unity without uniformity" through this study of the Apostles' journey after Jesus' ascension. Through this message, Pastor Chris stresses the early church's resolve to embrace unity without erasing cultural identities.
Learn why gathering as a church community holds profound importance in our faith journeys, challenging the modern trend of practicing faith in isolation. This is a call to move beyond past betrayals and focus on the collective rewards of unity and prayer, just as the early disciples did in the shadow of Judas Iscariot's actions.
Listen, to uncover how aligning our hearts with Christ fosters genuine harmony among believers. Like pianos tuned to the same tuning fork, we're reminded that true unity arises not by focusing on each other but by each person turning towards Christ. This sermon is a heartfelt invitation to seek higher standards in our spiritual lives, ensuring that in serving Him, unity naturally follows.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
I am in Acts, chapter 1, beginning at verse 12.
Then they returned to Jerusalemfrom the mount called Olivet,
which is near Jerusalem, aSabbath journey away, and when
they had entered, they went upto the upper room where they
were staying.
Upper room where they werestaying, peter and John, james
(00:30):
and Andrew Philip and ThomasBartholomew and Matthew, james,
the son of Alphaeus, and Simonthe zealot, and Judas, the son
of James All these were with oneaccord were devoting themselves
to prayer, together with thewomen and Mary, the mother of
Jesus, and his brothers.
In those days, peter stood upamong the brothers the company
of persons was in all about 120and said Brothers, the scripture
(00:55):
had to be fulfilled, which theHoly Spirit spoke beforehand by
the mouth of David concerningJudas, who became a guide to
those who arrested Jesus, but hewas numbered among us and was
allotted his share in thisministry.
Now this man acquired a field,with the reward of his
wickedness and, falling headlong, he burst open in the middle
(01:17):
and all his bowels gushed out,and it became known to all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, sothat the field was called in
their own language, akadama,that is filled of blood, for it
is written in the book of Psalms.
May his camp become desolateand let there be no one to dwell
in it and let another take hisoffice, verse 21,.
(01:41):
So one of the men who hadaccompanied us during all the
time that the Lord Jesus went inand out among us, beginning
from the baptism of John untilthe day when he was taken up
from us, one of these men mustbecome with us a witness to his
resurrection.
And they put forward to JosephBar-Sabbas and Justice also
(02:09):
Bar-Sabbas, who was also calledJustice, and Matthias, and they
prayed and said Lord, you know,the hearts of all, show which
one of these two you have chosento take the place in this
ministry and apostleship, fromwhich Judas turned aside to go
to his own place, and they castlots for them and a lot fell on
Matthias and he was numberedwith the eleven apostles.
(02:29):
Acts, chapter 2, verse 1.
When the day of Pentecostarrived, they were all together
in one place and suddenly therecame from heaven a sound like a
rushing, mighty wind and itfilled the entire house where
they were sitting and dividedtongues as a fire appeared to
them and rested on each one ofthem, and they were all filled
(02:51):
with the Holy Spirit and beganto speak in other tongues as the
Spirit gave them utterance.
Now there were dwelling inJerusalem Jews, devout men from
every nation under heaven, andat this sound the multitude came
together and they werebewildered because each one was
hearing them speak in his ownlanguage and they were amazed
(03:12):
and astonished, saying Are notall these who are speaking
Galileans, and how is it that wehear each of us in his own
native language?
Parthians and Medes and Elamitesand residents of Mesopotamia,
judea and Cappadocia, pontus andAsia, persia and Pamphylia,
(03:33):
egypt and the parts of Libyabelong to Cyrene and visitors
from Rome, both Jews andproselytes, cretans and Arabians
.
We hear them telling in our owntongues the mighty works of God
and all were amazed andperplexed, saying to one another
what does this mean?
But others, mocking, said theyare filled with new wine.
(03:57):
God bless the reading of hisword.
You can be seated.
Thanks be to God.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I had Ron read the text today, so I didn't have to
pronounce all those names.
I'm not texting.
By the way, it takes me aminute to switch from singing to
(04:43):
preaching, so bear with me.
Well, praise the Lord,everybody.
All right, so here we go.
Well, the gospel you've heardme say this before.
The gospel calls us, the peopleof God, to unity without
(05:12):
uniformity.
Let me just unpack that for youwhen you become a Christian,
you do not lose your culturaldistinctives, all of your
personality, like maybe some ofyour personality some of you has
chipped away.
You know you're sanctified abit, but, in other words, what
I'm saying is you don't lose theuniqueness that makes you you.
(05:34):
We don't become spiritualrobots.
We still have differentpreferences, different ideas,
different passions, differentskills.
Is different passions,different skills.
However, though, we are notcalled to uniformity.
We are called, as believers, towalk in unity, and the way that
(05:54):
that works is this biblically,remember, paul said I've been
crucified with Christ.
It's no longer I who live, butwhat Christ who lives in me.
So, though, we are differentpeople with different
preferences and unique peoplewith unique personalities and
(06:14):
unique giftings, in the churchwe come together with our
highest aim being to serveChrist, to glorify God and to
proclaim the gospel to allnations, and in that sense we
are unified by doctrine and byChrist.
(06:36):
Amen.
The Bible calls us to unity.
Unity is a very important themethroughout the Bible.
In Psalm 133.1, the psalmistwrites Behold how good and how
pleasant it is when brothersdwell together in unity.
Let me read you 1 Corinthians1.10.
When the apostle Paul writesthese words, I appeal to you,
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brothers, by the name of theLord Jesus Christ, that all of
you agree, by the name of theLord Jesus Christ, that all of
you agree how you doing and thatthere be no divisions among you
.
Do you know?
Divisions in the church breakthe heart of God, and here's
what he says.
He says but that you be unitedin the same mind and in the same
(07:26):
judgment.
Ephesians 4.3,.
I'll give you one more Makeevery effort, to quote maintain
the unity of the Spirit in thebond of peace.
Make every effort Strive for,in other words, unity.
So, in our text today and, bythe way, I want you to know,
(07:49):
because I know many of you arechomping at the bit for this I
will address tongues today.
Okay, we're going to get there,but the main theme of the
message today and tonguesactually falls into this theme
is the theme of unity.
And in these first chapters ofthe book of Acts we see this
(08:09):
theme of unity and theimportance of it very, very
clearly.
So I want to point out in ourtext three facets of unity.
Are you with me?
So number one the early churchwas united in, if you're taking
notes, proximity.
The early church was united inproximity.
(08:33):
Look with me at Acts, chapter 1,verses 12 and 13.
So the ascension of Jesus hasjust happened, happened.
And the 11 disciples, so the 12, midas, judas, iscariot, it
says, they returned to jerusalemfrom the mount called all of it
(08:53):
, which is near jerusalem, asabbath day journey away.
And when they had entered they,they went up to the upper room
where they were staying Peterand John, james and Andrew,
philip and Thomas Bartholomew,matthew James, the son of
Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot,and Judas, not Judas Iscariot,
(09:16):
but Judas, the son of James.
So you remember, in Acts 1,verses 4 and 5, remember Jesus,
right before his ascension, he'sgiven kind of, his final
instructions to the disciplesand he said I'm sending you out
on missions and you will.
In verse 8, you're going to bemy witnesses in Jerusalem and in
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all of Judea and Samaria and tothe ends of the earth.
But remember what he said inverses four and five.
He says I know you're ready toget out there and go, but wait.
Wait, because wait on thepromise of the Father, which is
the baptism with or in the HolySpirit.
Wait, and what I love aboutthis, the disciples obey and
(10:03):
they do wait, but they don't gooff to their own places.
They wait together.
They seek God together.
How many know we are bettertogether, amen.
They wait together and theyjoin with 109 other men and
(10:27):
women of God in the upper roomand together they seek the Lord
and they wait on the promise ofthe Father.
What we have right hereimmediately Jesus ascends to
heaven and we have the firstchurch service, right, I mean,
it happens straight away.
So what you're doing today is,by the way, extremely important.
(10:48):
The early church was committedto worshiping together, to
fellowshipping together.
Go read later, acts 2.42.
I'll be preaching on that, Godwilling, in a couple of weeks.
So my point is this churchcommunity was very important to
the early church.
Would you agree with that, doyou know?
(11:08):
And this is such an anomalybecause this is not the case
throughout church history, butin the you know kind of this
post-modern age, do you knowthat there has been a great
decline in church attendance byprofessing christ?
You probably know people who say, well, I love Jesus, but I
don't go to church.
(11:28):
Can I just say this that'sstupid.
That's one of the dumbestthings I've ever heard and one
of the most unscriptural thingsI've ever heard.
So watch this.
Why would people devalue church?
Right, like why would they say,well, I'm a Christian, but that
church thing is just not for methe top reason statistically,
(11:50):
you know what it is.
It's what we call autonomy andwhat that is.
It's autonomy is the right orthe condition to self-government
.
And boy, americans love this,don't we?
Nobody telling me what to do.
Man, I have complete freedom tolive like I want to live, and
the Western mantra is simplyleave me alone, let me do me
(12:15):
right, let me be me, as long asI'm not hurting somebody else.
I want to do it my way.
It's like Burger King church,right, I want it my way.
Church right, I want it my way.
The Pew Research Center theyended up doing a survey and they
(12:40):
surveyed many Christians, orpeople who claim to be
Christians, who don't regularlygo to church, and the top reason
given for that decision isquote that they practice their
faith in their own way, endquote.
Can I just be honest with you?
That's stupid.
The Christian life is to bepracticed Christ's way.
(13:00):
Listen, right before our text.
What does Jesus do?
He ascends to where yeah, wherethe right hand of the Father.
Right, it's a place ofauthority.
The whole point of the gospelis Jesus, through his death,
burial and resurrection andascension, became king.
(13:22):
Jesus is king.
So newsflash Christian.
If Jesus is king of his kingdom, that means you are not.
You're not the king of yourlife, and so you don't get to
practice Christianity your way.
You practice it Jesus way oryou don't practice it.
(13:47):
Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 24and 25, says let us consider how
to stir brothers and sistersone another up to good works and
love, not neglecting to meettogether, as is the habit of
some, but here's what he saysbut encouraging one another, and
all the more as the day of theLord draws near.
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What's the day of the Lord?
It's the return of the Lord,jesus Christ.
Right, so we shouldn't have adecline in church attendance.
I don't know when the Lord'scoming back, but I know it's
closer than it was yesterday,which means we ought to meet
more this week than we did lastweek.
It isn't about just giving Godan hour every week.
This is about living lifetogether.
(14:29):
So let me just say it like thiswhen you become a Christian,
you give up your autonomy.
Now I want to just mention veryquickly another reason and I
want to be more sympathetic tothis reason that some people
don't come to church, and it'sbecause of previous church hurts
.
For those of you who've grownup in church, how many of you
ever been hurt in church?
Okay, you're looking at aperson right here.
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As a pastor, I cut my teeth onthe church pews.
I've been in the church sincenursery and I've been a pastor
for well over 20 years, and youknow how I'm going to die.
It's going to be death by athousand cuts because church
people through the years havehurt me and hurt me and hurt me
People I'd die for.
And, by the way, just to befair, I'm human and I've hurt
(15:15):
others too, and so when youbuild a relationship with
somebody I don't care if it'sfamily, co-workers, friends the
closer you are, the more riskthere is of being hurt.
You know what I love about ourtext.
You know one of the mainreasons for the apostles meeting
in the upper room yes, they'rewaiting on the promise of the
Father, but they're alsoreplacing Judas Iscariot, this
(15:40):
co-disciple of theirs whobetrayed the Messiah, their
leader.
And what did he do?
He took his own life.
Now here's what I love.
Think about this Judas didn'tjust hurt Jesus, he hurt every
one of those guys.
Imagine.
They've been with him three anda half years.
(16:01):
They have done miraclestogether.
They have sat at the feet ofJesus together.
They have broken bread together.
They have been witnesses to hisdeath.
They've seen him pour out hislife and his compassion.
And here's this man, who man?
They had locked arms for threeand a half years and for 30
(16:25):
pieces of silver he sells outthe Messiah and betrays every
one of them.
But watch this they still meettogether and they still are
overjoyed.
You know why?
Because their eyes weren't onJudas, they were on Jesus.
And I'm so sorry that some ofyou have been hurt by church.
But listen, keep your eyes onJesus.
(16:48):
And let me say this there is arisk today you being here in
building relationships.
Some people, they come tochurch but they come in late and
go out early because they don'twant to get in the mess of
community, and that's reallytragic because there is risk.
But let me just say it likethis the reward is immensely
(17:08):
greater than the risk.
I'll be vulnerable time andtime again in order to be in a
relationship, deep relationship,with other believers.
So, point number one, I got tomove on.
They were together in proximity.
(17:31):
Secondly, they were united inprayer.
You know, personal prayer isreally important, isn't it?
We know that Jesus got alone topray.
We talk about having a prayerlife all of the time, every day.
I believe you ought to havetime committed to the Lord
without your phone.
I mean where you're bowing atyour bedside or by your couch or
sitting on the sofa or whatever, with your Bible only in hand
and saying Lord, this time isyours, and you read his word and
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you pray Jesus, remember inMatthew 6, he told his disciples
when you pray, don't be likethe hypocrites do, or who stand
on the street corners and wantto be heard with their many
words, using all thesetheological terms.
He says don't be like them.
They want the applause of men.
He says go into the secretplace where nobody sees you
(18:11):
except God.
And God who sees you in secretwill reward you.
He'll reward you.
So private prayer is important,but in that text Jesus is not
forbidding corporate prayer.
What he's warning against isfalse motives.
So here's the test Don't do inpublic what you're not willing
(18:32):
to do in private.
Boy, that's good right there.
Don't do in public what you'renot willing to do in private.
In other words and I can tellthe people who pray here that
don't pray at home, I can tellit's a struggle for them to pray
here because they're not usedto it, they're not in the habit
of it.
So if the only place you prayis at church, maybe you ought to
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better look at your prayer lifeand your motives.
Are you with me?
They were together in prayer.
Now this is really, reallyinteresting.
There are just prayer meetingsthroughout the book of Acts.
Okay, let me just got to gothrough these quickly.
So, acts 1 and 2, they'repraying for direction to fill
the apostolic seat left vacantby Judas.
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In Acts 4, they have a prayermeeting for courage and boldness
.
Chapter 12, they pray fordeliverance and suffering.
Chapter 13, they pray forwisdom in ministry.
Chapter 16, they pray in such away that results in the church
spreading throughout Macedonia.
And in chapter 20, they praytogether with lament because
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Paul is saying kind of hisgoodbyes to the people he loved.
Do you know that nearly allhistorical accounts of revivals
are considered to be birthed byprayer?
You know we want revival, butare we willing to pray?
By the way, you know what Ithink at this church, the
greatest victory of 2024 was.
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I think it's our prayermeetings on Wednesday nights.
It used to be years before that, for my first nine years here,
if we had a potluck you've heardme say this standing room only,
but you had a prayer meeting Ifwe had literally five people
here, it was a good prayermeeting and our Wednesday night
services have grown.
We've committed them to prayerand praise and it's just been
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awesome.
So if you haven't come, I'm nothere to chastise you, I just
want to invite you and I want tosay thank you to those of you
who have made Wednesday nights apriority.
All right, so the early churchwas united in proximity and
prayer.
Number three they are united inpurpose.
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Purpose, you know again, theagenda item in the upper room,
besides waiting for the Spirit,is we need to replace this
apostolic seat.
There's two basicqualifications that we see Look
at verses 21 and 22 for the nextapostle, so one of the men who
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have accompanied us.
So they're saying the seat ofJudas has to be filled.
So we're picking one of the menwho have accompanied us during
all the time that the Lord Jesuswent in and out among us,
beginning from the baptism ofJohn until the day when he was
taken up from us.
One of these men must becomewith us a witness to the
(21:21):
resurrection of Jesus.
Now here's a side note.
This is a debate Are therestill this is in your study
notes but are there stillcapital A apostles today?
Well, are there people who werewith Jesus from John the
Baptist ministry until hisascension and also have
witnessed his resurrection?
(21:42):
No, guys, if there's anything Ican warn you.
When somebody calls themselvesapostles, so-and-so and that's
real common today in thecharismatic church just say I'm
good and kind of walk away.
But here's the thing I dobelieve the apostolic office is
still there, but it's not thecapital A apostle.
You you know what the wordApostle in the Greek means Sent
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one.
You know what we call those inthe contemporary church
Missionaries, pastor Ben andDina, missionaries to EKU, we
can call you Apostle Ben.
All right, it's a cool thing,right, ken and Keith?
You know parish and you knowoverseas they're in apostolic
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ministry taking the gospel intonew places.
So just be careful.
You know this apostle so-and-sowhat, the way that's been taken
in the charismatic churchesthey're you know you got to do
everything they say they're likeup here, it's a hierarchy.
Do everything they say they'relike up here, it's a hierarchy.
It's not what apostolicministry is today.
So that's free.
There you go.
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All right.
So they were together inpurpose.
So here's the thing, here's thequalifications.
And Peter says all right, we'vegot two candidates that meet
these qualifications.
You've got Joseph also calledJustice, and you've got Matthias
or Matthias called Justice, andyou've got Matthias or Matthias
(23:07):
.
All right.
Now here's what I love.
We just went through anelection.
You remember How'd that go?
Right, like I mean, it's prettycharged right.
And some of you, like I seesome high schoolers here like
even voting for a schoolpresident.
You wear your Vote for Pedrot-shirts and all that, like I
know, all right, some of you arelike Wonder World, others of
you you're my friends, all right, because you get the reference.
(23:32):
There's all kinds of campaigninggoing on, because we all have
our preference right.
We know so-and-so better, or welike their stance better, so on
and so forth, know so-and-sobetter, or we like their stance
better, so on and so forth.
And no doubt there's 120 peoplein the upper room here and you
think some probably like justicea little better than Matthias
and some probably like Matthiasa little bit better than justice
.
But here's what I love In Acts,chapter 1, they're so focused
(24:00):
on Jesus.
They're not trying to pushtheir candidate.
Watch what they do.
Look at 24 through 26.
And they prayed.
And here's what they said Lord,you know the hearts of all,
show us which one of these twoyou have chosen.
I love that To take place inthis ministry and apostleship,
(24:21):
from which Judas turned aside togo to his own place and they
cast lots and Proverbs talksabout the Lord being behind that
.
It's like rolling dice.
But we don't do that today andthis is the very last time it's
done in Scripture.
Why?
Because we don't need to dothat, because we have the
leading of the Holy Spirit, theindwelling of the Spirit, amen,
all right.
So there it is.
You get what I'm saying.
(24:42):
They're not about theirpreferences, they're together in
purpose.
And how are they together inpurpose?
Because they all want Jesusleading for the church.
Right, it's about Jesus'purpose, not really about ours.
You know people tell me now well, you got to have vision, you
got to ask the, you know, findout where you want to go and
(25:03):
bring it.
You got to have a visionstatement, mission statement,
okay, but here's my visionstatement.
It's to do what Jesus asked meto do.
It's about him, not me comingup with some clever saying.
It's about reaching people.
It's about loving God with allof our hearts and neighbor's
self and taking the gospel tothe uttermost parts of the earth
(25:25):
.
That's the purpose.
Amen, all right.
So they're in unity, byproximity, by prayer and also in
purpose.
So here it is.
We're going to Acts 2 now, Allright, and I'm going to try not
to preach 55 minutes today, butI promised you we'd go here, so
here we go.
What are the results of unity?
(25:46):
So let's look first at verses 1and 2 of chapter 2.
And when the day of Pentecostarrived, they were all together
in one place.
This is a Jewish festival, 50days after Passover.
The word literally meansPentecost means 50.
So from Passover you have sevenweeks.
How many days are in a week?
Seven?
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What's seven times seven oh,you're smart.
And what's 49 plus one day, 50.
So the day after seven weeksyou have this festival of
Pentecost.
And I've got a lot moreinformation about Pentecost in
your study notes.
There's a lot I could say, butthat's not the point today.
But it's worth checking out, sowhat we see first.
(26:29):
So Pentecost had arrived, theywere all together.
Do you see it again?
Unity, all together in oneplace.
And suddenly there came fromheaven a sound like a mighty
rushing wind and it filled theentire house when they were
sitting.
Okay, so they're together,they're in one accord and
(26:51):
Christian unity results in thismanifest presence of God.
So, number one it results.
Unity results in God's presence.
It says that there's thisrushing mighty wind, a sound as
a rushing mighty wind, and inthe Greek and also the Hebrew
word for this many of you knowthis the word wind also is
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translated breath.
This is the breath of God thatwas breathed into Adam.
It's the life-giving breath ofGod's spirit, it's his manifest
presence, and I know, friends,that God is omnipresent.
You can experience the presenceof God in your car, at home,
even Walmart sometimes.
Listen, miracles happen.
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So you can experience thepresence of God alone.
But I'm telling you there'ssomething special that happens
when we come together Amen, heis with us in a special and
particular way, and thisoutpouring happened because they
were all together in one place.
All right, christian unityresults in God's presence, but
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it also results in his power.
Results in His power.
Look at now the verses you wereall waiting for 3 and 4.
And divided tongues, as of fireappeared to them and rested on
each one of them, and they wereall filled with the Holy Spirit
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and began to do what Speak inother tongues, as the Spirit
gave them utterance.
All right, let's pray.
No, I'm just joking.
I told you I'd mention it,right?
No?
So what is this all about?
God's power, this is what Iwant you to see.
No, so what is this all about?
God's power?
This is what I want you to see.
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God's power is manifested as aresult of their unity in seeking
God together.
All right, so let me just giveyou some observations.
Let's talk about this highlyinteresting and highly debated
gift of tongues.
So, number one, I want you to,and you can jot this down in
your Bible the word tonguescould be better translated as
(29:06):
the word languages, that's allit means.
Speaking in tongues sounds alittle more mystical and weird
than just speaking in languages.
So doesn't this sound better tosay, hey, god gave me the
ability to speak in otherlanguages than other tongues?
So either word works, but justwanted to point that out.
Now, remember, this is Pentecost, this Jewish festival, and the
(29:29):
beauty of this is that Jewishpilgrims that were scattered all
throughout Palestine and evenoutside the Palestinian area
would be gathered in Jerusalem.
I mean, there are multitudes ofJews there and remember, the
gospel is to start in Jerusalemand this is happening.
So this is brilliant that theSpirit is poured out at
(29:51):
Pentecost.
The Jews, you know, they heardI won't read this whole text,
but in verses 5 through 8, youhave these Jews from different
regions and they all hear these120 in the upper room speaking
(30:14):
in their own native tongues werelanguages that those in the
upper room they know could havenever learned.
So most of the Jewish pilgrimsalmost all, if not all of them
would have spoken as a secondlanguage Greek.
But then they all werescattered throughout the ancient
(30:35):
world and they all had also anative tongue or different
dialects, and so they werehearing those in the upper room
shouting out proclaiming praisesto God in their own languages.
Now, do you know that this isstill a gift?
That happens today.
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Listen, I've got three accountsof friends that I'm very close
to where this exact same thinghas happened.
Okay, one of them you rememberMaster's Voice, ricky Capps, the
lead singer, who's been hereseveral times.
He's an independent fundamentalBaptist which, generally
speaking, those people do notbelieve in the gifts of the
(31:20):
Spirit.
And he said, chris, he told methe last time he was here I was
in a church service and somebodyspoke in tongues and it was the
native tongue of this otherperson there and he said it was
amazing.
But let me share another onewith you.
So there's a guy in our church.
Some of you may know him.
His name is Kent Sullivan andhe's a retired pastor and he
came here.
He and his wife, emily Emily,sang on the praise team for a
(31:42):
while.
Well, he got kind of apart-time pastorship in Irvin,
so he's there now, but he stillcomes to my small group.
I'm very, very close to him andhe's not overly mystical and
all of this.
But let me say this I trust himcompletely.
So he knew I was preaching onthis subject this week.
So let me read you a textmessage he sent me.
(32:05):
He said a true story related toyour message about tongues that
I witnessed.
So this is him personally.
He said Mike Shreve, anotherpastor, and I were preaching
outside of a high school inAsheville, tennessee, to a large
crowd of high school students.
Mike suddenly spoke a loudmessage in tongues that echoed
(32:26):
across the crowd.
Listen, it's so cool.
A female exchange student fromPortugal, from far across the
the field, came running up toMike excitedly saying to Mike
how did you know that language?
And Mike said what language?
And she said you were speakingin an ancient dialect of
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Portuguese that's not even anylonger used.
You were praising Jesus Christin that ancient dialect of
Portuguese.
And Kent said it was a powerfulwitness to her of the reality
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How amazing is that?
(33:11):
You know there are two differentresponses in our text to this
speaking in other languages orspeaking in tongues.
Look at verse 12 in chapter 2.
And all were amazed andperplexed, saying to one another
what does this mean?
So the first group of peoplewere curious Some of you today
(33:33):
who maybe haven't experiencedthis, you're curious.
But there's another group.
In verse 13, it says but others, mocking, said they are filled
with new wine.
They're drunk.
These people are out of theirmind.
And do you know there are stillthose two groups of people
today.
There are the curious, but thereare also, unfortunately, the
(33:54):
critical.
You know there are some pastors, prominent pastors, that have
all, but actually they may haveeven said this right out, but at
least they heavily imply thatspeaking in tongues today is of
the devil.
Do you know what blasphemy ofthe Holy Spirit is?
Do you remember what it waswhen we went through Matthew?
(34:14):
It's when Jesus was casting outdemons and the Pharisees said
you're doing this by the powerof Satan.
He says you've blasphemed theHoly Spirit.
So you know what this is.
Blasphemy is when you callsomething of God.
You give credit to the devilfor something that God did.
You give credit to the devilfor something that God did.
(34:37):
So I hope today this might notbe for you.
Like you may say, you know what.
This is something I'm just notsure about.
That's okay, it's okay.
You could be curious and sayyou know what?
I think it's maybe abusedsometimes.
I've seen it.
It seems kind of weird, but Iam really curious as to what it
is.
That's fine.
Ask questions, even have doubts, if you want.
(35:00):
But I just say guard from beingcritical, are you with me?
Okay?
Next point is this observationthe gift of tongues is vertical.
This is something I wasreminded about.
It's vertical.
In verse 11, the second part,the crowd says we were hearing
(35:20):
them, the ones speaking intongues, in our own tongues,
declaring the mighty works ofGod.
The tongues were not directedat the people listening.
This was not the preaching ofthe gospel.
That happens after this.
Peter stands up and preachesthe gospel.
What were they doing in otherlanguages?
(35:43):
They were extolling God, andthat's the pattern every time we
see tongues in the Bible.
So in chapter 10, spirits pourdown on the Gentiles.
They speak in tongues In verse46, for they were hearing them
speaking in tongues andextolling God or magnifying God.
1 Corinthians 14, 2.
(36:03):
For one who speaks in tonguesspeaks not to men but to God,
for no one understands him, buthe utters mysteries in the
spirit.
So probably step on some toeshere.
But when there is tongues andinterpretation, the
(36:24):
interpretation and I've missedthis, I was reminded of this
even with the last tongue andinterpretation we had I believe
clearly in Scripture that theinterpretation should be a
praise of God.
It's not an interpretation ofGod speaking to us.
Okay, you study that out foryourself.
People who agree with me ordisagree with me, that's fine.
(36:46):
They've been wrong before,won't be the last time.
No, really, we can disagreehere, but I think it's really
clear.
And this is so cool becausethink about this in your prayer
life.
Have you ever read thescriptures?
And, like you, are just sodetermined to pray to God and
you want to magnify him, butdon't words fall short of the
(37:09):
glory and the beauty of God?
And it's in those moments thatthe Holy Spirit takes over.
And, by the way, god, and it'sin those moments that the Holy
Spirit takes over, and, by theway, the Holy Spirit doesn't
possess us and speak out like.
The Holy Spirit puts thesewords in our hearts and we speak
them out by faith, but youbegin praying in another
language, whether it's a humanlanguage or the Bible talks
(37:29):
about there's debate over thisbut a heavenly language,
whatever it is, it's wonderfulbecause the Holy Spirit, through
us, can express things aboutGod that the English language
cannot, and it's a beautifulthing.
So let me just say this is abeautiful, beautiful gift.
All right.
Now, here's how I want to tiethis in.
One more observation, and we'llbe done.
(37:50):
Here's how I want to tie itinto unity will be done.
Here's how I want to tie itinto unity.
Here's how I want to tie itinto unity.
The miracle of tongues atPentecost was a unifying
experience.
This is amazing.
(38:11):
The story of the book of Actsyou know really what it is.
It's about how God wouldfulfill his covenant and his
promise to extend his kingdomand salvation not just to Israel
but to all the world.
So in the Old Testament, youremember I think it's Genesis,
chapter 12.
God makes a covenant withAbraham and he promises him that
, through Abraham and his family, not just Israel but all the
(38:35):
nations would be blessed.
Now that promise watch this.
That promise comes right afterchapter 11, which is kind of a
crazy story, where there's atower being built in Babel and
the people are arrogantly tryingto make God irrelevant and
they're building this tower.
(38:56):
We can reach the heavens on ourown, and you know what God does
in judgment.
What's he do?
He confuses their languages andthe people scattered and they
become divided.
It's a curse, it's a judgment.
Do you know what Pentecost is?
It is a reversal of the Towerof Babel.
(39:20):
Everybody is hearing andunderstanding the same words in
their own languages.
God is reminding them.
God just said the gospel isgoing out to Jerusalem, judea,
samaria, other parts of theearth, and then the next sign is
God bringing these languagestogether to remind us that we
are one people.
Right, it's not HispanicChristians and Caucasian
(39:44):
Christians and African AmericanChristians and Indonesian
Christians.
We're just Christians and weare part of the same family.
All right, we ought to treateach other like this, right?
Sure, we have culturaldistinctions, but we're all part
of the family of God and it'sthe gospel that unites us.
I'm not a Christian nationalistbecause, as much as I love
(40:08):
America and I'm a huge patriot,it's not about America, it's
about the whole of the world.
Amen, amen.
It's not about America, it'sabout the whole of the world,
amen.
Pentecost was a unifyingexperience, which brings me to
this point.
The gift of tongues shouldnever be used to divide us, and
(40:28):
often it is, and that's nothingnew, because, you know, in the
book of 1 Corinthians, paul iswriting to these believers at
Corinth, and you know that thegift of tongues was used, like
it is today, to divide ratherthan to unite.
Let me just give you quicklytwo ways that tongues can be
divisive.
Tongues are divisive number onewhen those who have that
(40:53):
particular gift look down uponthose who do not.
When I first came to thischurch, I had my dear secretary,
a lady I love very much, missher very much, darlene.
This lady loved God and servedGod with all of her heart, but
she was made by some.
They don't go to this churchanymore, but she was made and
(41:13):
pressured to speak in tonguesand I remember her crying and
going why would God not give methis gift?
And that's what was happeningin Corinth, because they were
saying I speak in tongues, youdon't, guys.
So you know what Paul does in 1Corinthians 12?
He says he has some rhetoricalquestions Do all speak in
(41:36):
tongues, do all prophesy, do allhave gifts of healing, do all
have the working of miracles,and he goes on and on.
And what's the obvious answer?
No.
We're a body with many partsand God hasn't given us all the
same gift.
He gives us different gifts andthat's what makes the body of
(42:05):
Christ beautiful, and you knowthis.
Let me just say this the giftof tongues is a beautiful and
wonderful gift and it's been apart of my life and my prayer
life for about 20 years now.
I'm grateful for it.
Do you know that?
Paul says, though, that it's oneof the lesser gifts.
He says don't forbid it.
He said I wish you all spoke intongues.
But he said if you're going tolong for a gift, he said I'd
(42:30):
rather you speak.
Five words of prophecy.
See, prophecy within the churchis horizontal.
The Spirit speaks through me tosomeone else or a group of
people.
The gift of tongues is vertical.
I just want you to know.
If you don't speak in tongues,the Bible says earnestly desire
spiritual gifts.
So, man, ask the Lord today ifthat's a gift you'd like,
(42:52):
there's nothing wrong.
I've heard pastors say well,you should never ask for that.
Why?
Paul says to.
But he says so seek spiritualgifts, but especially that you
prophesy.
I had a word of prophecy givenme by somebody that I don't
think has ever prophesied beforelast week.
It was a confirmation of myheart.
It's personal so I won't shareit with you, but I'm grateful
(43:15):
for all the gifts, amen.
So tongues divides when peoplelook down on those who don't
speak in tongues and make themfeel like second-class
Christians.
But there's one more waytongues divides in 1 Corinthians
14.
And, by the way, this is inyour study guide.
I hope today and this week inyour small groups and personal
devotions, you'll read 1Corinthians 12 through 14.
(43:35):
And, by the way, this is inyour study guide.
I hope today you'll, and thisweek in your small groups and
personal devotions, you'll read1 Corinthians 12 through 14.
But tongues divide within thecontext of the church when
they're spoken withoutinterpretation.
Okay, and again, in allseriousness, I've got people who
disagree with me on this, butagain, I think the scripture is
clear, but I could be wrong.
Paul seems to say let me justread this to you 1 Corinthians
(43:58):
14, 27.
If any speak in a tongue, letthere only be two or at the most
three, and each in turn.
So how many of you ever been ina church I have where they say
let's all speak in tongues,let's all pray in tongues.
(44:19):
Yeah, take your head at me.
Okay, maybe I'm reading thiswrong, but Paul says let there
be two or three at the most andlet each in turn, so only one at
a time, and let someoneinterpret.
If there's no interpretation,here's what he says If there's
no one to interpret, let eachone keep silent in the church,
(44:42):
which I take to mean.
You know, we call it a prayerlanguage.
It's a beautiful gift, I havethat, but that's to be used in
private.
If there's no interpretation,let him speak to himself and to
God.
So what happens when we comeinto church?
(45:08):
You've heard me say this it isnot me and God, it is we and God
.
And so many people today theywant to come in and they want to
be isolated in their ownworship and you'll be
individually blessed in church.
But when we come together, it'sabout encouraging the whole
body and edifying the whole body.
But if you're speaking in atongue that's not understood and
not interpreted, you're leavingthe rest of us behind.
(45:28):
It becomes divisive and Paulgoes on to say that if
somebody's in here that's not abeliever, he said they'll think
you're out of your mind.
And I've seen this happen.
Saw a girl on the front row ina wednesday night service not
here, at another church that Iwas a part of, and she literally
booked it out of church becauseit was so it freaked her out
(45:49):
all these people speaking intongues and she just thought it
sounded like chanting and she'sgoing.
What in in the world is thisand it's sad because tongues is
a beautiful gift.
But Paul says, and Paul saysdon't forbid it, but do it
decently and in order.
So I'm not worried about whatother churches do.
This is the church God's calledme to pastor.
Let me just quickly tell you howtongues operate in this church,
(46:13):
if there's ever a word intongues.
First of all, I would encourageyou at this point to come and
talk to our elders and sayhere's what I'm feeling, and it
needs to be done by a memberOkay, somebody.
I don't want people speakingout who've never been in here,
but it has to haveinterpretation.
(46:34):
Been in here, but it has tohave interpretation and if it
doesn't, we'll gently kick youout.
No, I'm just joking.
We'll just gently say listen,there's no interpreter, but
thank you for speaking out infaith.
We don't want to chastise youif you're speaking, but now you
know?
But the Bible says if you speakin a tongue, there's nobody to
interpret.
He says pray, that you can havethe interpretation.
Isn't it interesting thateverybody says they can speak in
(46:57):
?
All these people say they speakin tongues, but most of them
say well, but I never know whatthe interpretation is.
Why would God not be willing togive that to you.
If he'll give you an unknowntongue, it just doesn't make
sense.
So it's a beautiful gift, butit's to be done decently and in
order.
So now let me give one caveathere.
For those of you who make thisa part of your life in worship,
(47:19):
here's what I would say it'sfine, I've done this just kind
of under your breath in worship.
If you feel so led to do that,okay, but just don't be a
distraction to the people aroundyou.
That's all I would say.
Is that fair?
And again, I could be readingthis all wrong, but I'm called
to shepherd these people, youpeople and this church, and
(47:43):
that's the way it's going tooperate in this church.
Fair, all right?
Who's mad at me?
Raise your hand?
Okay, a few of you, all right,thank you guys.
Love being honest, right?
That's really funny.
So, connor, if you'd come tothe keys Guys, listen, I love
(48:05):
this place, except for those ofyou that raised your hands.
Praise team, you can call themcoming up.
So let me just take us back tounity Tongues.
All this, guys, we got to beunified, which means, even when
you are mad at me, that we're ofone purpose and one mind, right
.
So how do we do this?
How do we achieve unity?
(48:26):
Aw Tozer, this is so good.
Can I have your attention?
Did I preach 55 minutes againBecause it feels like it?
Oh my goodness, what's wrongwith me?
It's good, all right.
They said I could keep going.
Aw Tozer said this has it everoccurred to you that 100 pianos
(48:49):
all tuned to the same tuningfork are automatically tuned to
one another?
This is so good.
They are of one accord by beingtuned not to each other.
You don't tune pianos to eachother, but to another standard
to which each one mustindividually bow, namely the
(49:10):
same tuning fork.
So 100 worshipers meetingtogether, each one looking away
to Christ, are, in heart, nearerto each other than they could
possibly be, where they becomequote, unquote, unity conscious
and turn their eyes away fromGod and to each other oh, this
(49:33):
is good.
And to each other, oh, this isgood.
If we want unity, if we wantunity, we don't sit here and try
to converse and go.
All right, what can we do tobecome more unified?
You know what we do.
We look, we tune ourselves tothe Lord, jesus Christ, and if
we're all seeking to serve him,we're going to be in unity.
Isn't that beautiful?
Oh, I love it.
So let me give you just one todo to you.
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Isn't that beautiful?
Oh, I love it.
So let me give you just one todo Now hopefully this is assumed
Look to Jesus and make sureyou're aligned with him.
But I would just say this Ifyou have ought with your brother
or sister in Christ, we call itthe enemy within.
(50:18):
This is how the enemy works.
Attacks usually that hurt achurch are not from out there.
They're in here because ofpeople who gossip and slander
and have issue with a brother orsister in Christ and don't
address it.
So I would just say, for thesake of unity and the sake of
the mission of Christ, if youhave ought with your brother
today, today or let's say thisweek, but today if possible,
even as we sing today, go bereconciled.
I am in Acts, chapter 1, beginning at verse 12.
Then they returned to Jerusalemfrom the mount called Olivet,
which is near Jerusalem, aSabbath journey away, and when
they had entered, they went upto the upper room where they
were staying.
Upper room where they werestaying, peter and John, james
(00:30):
and Andrew Philip and ThomasBartholomew and Matthew, james,
the son of Alphaeus, and Simonthe zealot, and Judas, the son
of James All these were with oneaccord were devoting themselves
to prayer, together with thewomen and Mary, the mother of
Jesus, and his brothers.
In those days, peter stood upamong the brothers the company
of persons was in all about 120and said Brothers, the scripture
(00:55):
had to be fulfilled, which theHoly Spirit spoke beforehand by
the mouth of David concerningJudas, who became a guide to
those who arrested Jesus, but hewas numbered among us and was
allotted his share in thisministry.
Now this man acquired a field,with the reward of his
wickedness and, falling headlong, he burst open in the middle
(01:17):
and all his bowels gushed out,and it became known to all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, sothat the field was called in
their own language, akadama,that is filled of blood, for it
is written in the book of Psalms.
May his camp become desolateand let there be no one to dwell
in it and let another take hisoffice, verse 21,.
(01:41):
So one of the men who hadaccompanied us during all the
time that the Lord Jesus went inand out among us, beginning
from the baptism of John untilthe day when he was taken up
from us, one of these men mustbecome with us a witness to his
resurrection.
And they put forward to JosephBar-Sabbas and Justice also
(02:09):
Bar-Sabbas, who was also calledJustice, and Matthias, and they
prayed and said Lord, you know,the hearts of all, show which
one of these two you have chosento take the place in this
ministry and apostleship, fromwhich Judas turned aside to go
to his own place, and they castlots for them and a lot fell on
Matthias and he was numberedwith the eleven apostles.
(02:29):
Acts, chapter 2, verse 1.
When the day of Pentecostarrived, they were all together
in one place and suddenly therecame from heaven a sound like a
rushing, mighty wind and itfilled the entire house where
they were sitting and dividedtongues as a fire appeared to
them and rested on each one ofthem, and they were all filled
(02:51):
with the Holy Spirit and beganto speak in other tongues as the
Spirit gave them utterance.
Now there were dwelling inJerusalem Jews, devout men from
every nation under heaven, andat this sound the multitude came
together and they werebewildered because each one was
hearing them speak in his ownlanguage and they were amazed
(03:12):
and astonished, saying Are notall these who are speaking
Galileans, and how is it that wehear each of us in his own
native language?
Parthians and Medes and Elamitesand residents of Mesopotamia,
judea and Cappadocia, pontus andAsia, persia and Pamphylia,
(03:33):
egypt and the parts of Libyabelong to Cyrene and visitors
from Rome, both Jews andproselytes, cretans and Arabians
.
We hear them telling in our owntongues the mighty works of God
and all were amazed andperplexed, saying to one another
what does this mean?
But others, mocking, said theyare filled with new wine.
(03:57):
God bless the reading of hisword.
You can be seated.
Thanks be to God.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I had Ron read the text today, so I didn't have to
pronounce all those names.
I'm not texting.
By the way, it takes me aminute to switch from singing to
(04:43):
preaching, so bear with me.
Well, praise the Lord,everybody.
All right, so here we go.
Well, the gospel you've heardme say this before.
The gospel calls us, the peopleof God, to unity without
(05:12):
uniformity.
Let me just unpack that for youwhen you become a Christian,
you do not lose your culturaldistinctives, all of your
personality, like maybe some ofyour personality some of you has
chipped away.
You know you're sanctified abit, but, in other words, what
I'm saying is you don't lose theuniqueness that makes you you.
(05:34):
We don't become spiritualrobots.
We still have differentpreferences, different ideas,
different passions, differentskills.
Is different passions,different skills.
However, though, we are notcalled to uniformity.
We are called, as believers, towalk in unity, and the way that
(05:54):
that works is this biblically,remember, paul said I've been
crucified with Christ.
It's no longer I who live, butwhat Christ who lives in me.
So, though, we are differentpeople with different
preferences and unique peoplewith unique personalities and
(06:14):
unique giftings, in the churchwe come together with our
highest aim being to serveChrist, to glorify God and to
proclaim the gospel to allnations, and in that sense we
are unified by doctrine and byChrist.
(06:36):
Amen.
The Bible calls us to unity.
Unity is a very important themethroughout the Bible.
In Psalm 133.1, the psalmistwrites Behold how good and how
pleasant it is when brothersdwell together in unity.
Let me read you 1 Corinthians1.10.
When the apostle Paul writesthese words, I appeal to you,
(07:00):
brothers, by the name of theLord Jesus Christ, that all of
you agree, by the name of theLord Jesus Christ, that all of
you agree how you doing and thatthere be no divisions among you
.
Do you know?
Divisions in the church breakthe heart of God, and here's
what he says.
He says but that you be unitedin the same mind and in the same
(07:26):
judgment.
Ephesians 4.3,.
I'll give you one more Makeevery effort, to quote maintain
the unity of the Spirit in thebond of peace.
Make every effort Strive for,in other words, unity.
So, in our text today and, bythe way, I want you to know,
(07:49):
because I know many of you arechomping at the bit for this I
will address tongues today.
Okay, we're going to get there,but the main theme of the
message today and tonguesactually falls into this theme
is the theme of unity.
And in these first chapters ofthe book of Acts we see this
(08:09):
theme of unity and theimportance of it very, very
clearly.
So I want to point out in ourtext three facets of unity.
Are you with me?
So number one the early churchwas united in, if you're taking
notes, proximity.
The early church was united inproximity.
(08:33):
Look with me at Acts, chapter 1,verses 12 and 13.
So the ascension of Jesus hasjust happened, happened.
And the 11 disciples, so the 12, midas, judas, iscariot, it
says, they returned to jerusalemfrom the mount called all of it
(08:53):
, which is near jerusalem, asabbath day journey away.
And when they had entered they,they went up to the upper room
where they were staying Peterand John, james and Andrew,
philip and Thomas Bartholomew,matthew James, the son of
Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot,and Judas, not Judas Iscariot,
(09:16):
but Judas, the son of James.
So you remember, in Acts 1,verses 4 and 5, remember Jesus,
right before his ascension, he'sgiven kind of, his final
instructions to the disciplesand he said I'm sending you out
on missions and you will.
In verse 8, you're going to bemy witnesses in Jerusalem and in
(09:37):
all of Judea and Samaria and tothe ends of the earth.
But remember what he said inverses four and five.
He says I know you're ready toget out there and go, but wait.
Wait, because wait on thepromise of the Father, which is
the baptism with or in the HolySpirit.
Wait, and what I love aboutthis, the disciples obey and
(10:03):
they do wait, but they don't gooff to their own places.
They wait together.
They seek God together.
How many know we are bettertogether, amen.
They wait together and theyjoin with 109 other men and
(10:27):
women of God in the upper roomand together they seek the Lord
and they wait on the promise ofthe Father.
What we have right hereimmediately Jesus ascends to
heaven and we have the firstchurch service, right, I mean,
it happens straight away.
So what you're doing today is,by the way, extremely important.
(10:48):
The early church was committedto worshiping together, to
fellowshipping together.
Go read later, acts 2.42.
I'll be preaching on that, Godwilling, in a couple of weeks.
So my point is this churchcommunity was very important to
the early church.
Would you agree with that, doyou know?
(11:08):
And this is such an anomalybecause this is not the case
throughout church history, butin the you know kind of this
post-modern age, do you knowthat there has been a great
decline in church attendance byprofessing christ?
You probably know people who say, well, I love Jesus, but I
don't go to church.
(11:28):
Can I just say this that'sstupid.
That's one of the dumbestthings I've ever heard and one
of the most unscriptural thingsI've ever heard.
So watch this.
Why would people devalue church?
Right, like why would they say,well, I'm a Christian, but that
church thing is just not for methe top reason statistically,
(11:50):
you know what it is.
It's what we call autonomy andwhat that is.
It's autonomy is the right orthe condition to self-government
.
And boy, americans love this,don't we?
Nobody telling me what to do.
Man, I have complete freedom tolive like I want to live, and
the Western mantra is simplyleave me alone, let me do me
(12:15):
right, let me be me, as long asI'm not hurting somebody else.
I want to do it my way.
It's like Burger King church,right, I want it my way.
Church right, I want it my way.
The Pew Research Center theyended up doing a survey and they
(12:40):
surveyed many Christians, orpeople who claim to be
Christians, who don't regularlygo to church, and the top reason
given for that decision isquote that they practice their
faith in their own way, endquote.
Can I just be honest with you?
That's stupid.
The Christian life is to bepracticed Christ's way.
(13:00):
Listen, right before our text.
What does Jesus do?
He ascends to where yeah, wherethe right hand of the Father.
Right, it's a place ofauthority.
The whole point of the gospelis Jesus, through his death,
burial and resurrection andascension, became king.
(13:22):
Jesus is king.
So newsflash Christian.
If Jesus is king of his kingdom, that means you are not.
You're not the king of yourlife, and so you don't get to
practice Christianity your way.
You practice it Jesus way oryou don't practice it.
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Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 24and 25, says let us consider how
to stir brothers and sistersone another up to good works and
love, not neglecting to meettogether, as is the habit of
some, but here's what he saysbut encouraging one another, and
all the more as the day of theLord draws near.
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What's the day of the Lord?
It's the return of the Lord,jesus Christ.
Right, so we shouldn't have adecline in church attendance.
I don't know when the Lord'scoming back, but I know it's
closer than it was yesterday,which means we ought to meet
more this week than we did lastweek.
It isn't about just giving Godan hour every week.
This is about living lifetogether.
(14:29):
So let me just say it like thiswhen you become a Christian,
you give up your autonomy.
Now I want to just mention veryquickly another reason and I
want to be more sympathetic tothis reason that some people
don't come to church, and it'sbecause of previous church hurts
.
For those of you who've grownup in church, how many of you
ever been hurt in church?
Okay, you're looking at aperson right here.
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As a pastor, I cut my teeth onthe church pews.
I've been in the church sincenursery and I've been a pastor
for well over 20 years, and youknow how I'm going to die.
It's going to be death by athousand cuts because church
people through the years havehurt me and hurt me and hurt me
People I'd die for.
And, by the way, just to befair, I'm human and I've hurt
(15:15):
others too, and so when youbuild a relationship with
somebody I don't care if it'sfamily, co-workers, friends the
closer you are, the more riskthere is of being hurt.
You know what I love about ourtext.
You know one of the mainreasons for the apostles meeting
in the upper room yes, they'rewaiting on the promise of the
Father, but they're alsoreplacing Judas Iscariot, this
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co-disciple of theirs whobetrayed the Messiah, their
leader.
And what did he do?
He took his own life.
Now here's what I love.
Think about this Judas didn'tjust hurt Jesus, he hurt every
one of those guys.
Imagine.
They've been with him three anda half years.
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They have done miraclestogether.
They have sat at the feet ofJesus together.
They have broken bread together.
They have been witnesses to hisdeath.
They've seen him pour out hislife and his compassion.
And here's this man, who man?
They had locked arms for threeand a half years and for 30
(16:25):
pieces of silver he sells outthe Messiah and betrays every
one of them.
But watch this they still meettogether and they still are
overjoyed.
You know why?
Because their eyes weren't onJudas, they were on Jesus.
And I'm so sorry that some ofyou have been hurt by church.
But listen, keep your eyes onJesus.
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And let me say this there is arisk today you being here in
building relationships.
Some people, they come tochurch but they come in late and
go out early because they don'twant to get in the mess of
community, and that's reallytragic because there is risk.
But let me just say it likethis the reward is immensely
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greater than the risk.
I'll be vulnerable time andtime again in order to be in a
relationship, deep relationship,with other believers.
So, point number one, I got tomove on.
They were together in proximity.
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Secondly, they were united inprayer.
You know, personal prayer isreally important, isn't it?
We know that Jesus got alone topray.
We talk about having a prayerlife all of the time, every day.
I believe you ought to havetime committed to the Lord
without your phone.
I mean where you're bowing atyour bedside or by your couch or
sitting on the sofa or whatever, with your Bible only in hand
and saying Lord, this time isyours, and you read his word and
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you pray Jesus, remember inMatthew 6, he told his disciples
when you pray, don't be likethe hypocrites do, or who stand
on the street corners and wantto be heard with their many
words, using all thesetheological terms.
He says don't be like them.
They want the applause of men.
He says go into the secretplace where nobody sees you
(18:11):
except God.
And God who sees you in secretwill reward you.
He'll reward you.
So private prayer is important,but in that text Jesus is not
forbidding corporate prayer.
What he's warning against isfalse motives.
So here's the test Don't do inpublic what you're not willing
(18:32):
to do in private.
Boy, that's good right there.
Don't do in public what you'renot willing to do in private.
In other words and I can tellthe people who pray here that
don't pray at home, I can tellit's a struggle for them to pray
here because they're not usedto it, they're not in the habit
of it.
So if the only place you prayis at church, maybe you ought to
(18:53):
better look at your prayer lifeand your motives.
Are you with me?
They were together in prayer.
Now this is really, reallyinteresting.
There are just prayer meetingsthroughout the book of Acts.
Okay, let me just got to gothrough these quickly.
So, acts 1 and 2, they'repraying for direction to fill
the apostolic seat left vacantby Judas.
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In Acts 4, they have a prayermeeting for courage and boldness
.
Chapter 12, they pray fordeliverance and suffering.
Chapter 13, they pray forwisdom in ministry.
Chapter 16, they pray in such away that results in the church
spreading throughout Macedonia.
And in chapter 20, they praytogether with lament because
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Paul is saying kind of hisgoodbyes to the people he loved.
Do you know that nearly allhistorical accounts of revivals
are considered to be birthed byprayer?
You know we want revival, butare we willing to pray?
By the way, you know what Ithink at this church, the
greatest victory of 2024 was.
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I think it's our prayermeetings on Wednesday nights.
It used to be years before that, for my first nine years here,
if we had a potluck you've heardme say this standing room only,
but you had a prayer meeting Ifwe had literally five people
here, it was a good prayermeeting and our Wednesday night
services have grown.
We've committed them to prayerand praise and it's just been
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awesome.
So if you haven't come, I'm nothere to chastise you, I just
want to invite you and I want tosay thank you to those of you
who have made Wednesday nights apriority.
All right, so the early churchwas united in proximity and
prayer.
Number three they are united inpurpose.
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Purpose, you know again, theagenda item in the upper room,
besides waiting for the Spirit,is we need to replace this
apostolic seat.
There's two basicqualifications that we see Look
at verses 21 and 22 for the nextapostle, so one of the men who
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have accompanied us.
So they're saying the seat ofJudas has to be filled.
So we're picking one of the menwho have accompanied us during
all the time that the Lord Jesuswent in and out among us,
beginning from the baptism ofJohn until the day when he was
taken up from us.
One of these men must becomewith us a witness to the
(21:21):
resurrection of Jesus.
Now here's a side note.
This is a debate Are therestill this is in your study
notes but are there stillcapital A apostles today?
Well, are there people who werewith Jesus from John the
Baptist ministry until hisascension and also have
witnessed his resurrection?
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No, guys, if there's anything Ican warn you.
When somebody calls themselvesapostles, so-and-so and that's
real common today in thecharismatic church just say I'm
good and kind of walk away.
But here's the thing I dobelieve the apostolic office is
still there, but it's not thecapital A apostle.
You you know what the wordApostle in the Greek means Sent
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one.
You know what we call those inthe contemporary church
Missionaries, pastor Ben andDina, missionaries to EKU, we
can call you Apostle Ben.
All right, it's a cool thing,right, ken and Keith?
You know parish and you knowoverseas they're in apostolic
(22:26):
ministry taking the gospel intonew places.
So just be careful.
You know this apostle so-and-sowhat, the way that's been taken
in the charismatic churchesthey're you know you got to do
everything they say they're likeup here, it's a hierarchy.
Do everything they say they'relike up here, it's a hierarchy.
It's not what apostolicministry is today.
So that's free.
There you go.
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All right.
So they were together inpurpose.
So here's the thing, here's thequalifications.
And Peter says all right, we'vegot two candidates that meet
these qualifications.
You've got Joseph also calledJustice, and you've got Matthias
or Matthias called Justice, andyou've got Matthias or Matthias
(23:07):
.
All right.
Now here's what I love.
We just went through anelection.
You remember How'd that go?
Right, like I mean, it's prettycharged right.
And some of you, like I seesome high schoolers here like
even voting for a schoolpresident.
You wear your Vote for Pedrot-shirts and all that, like I
know, all right, some of you arelike Wonder World, others of
you you're my friends, all right, because you get the reference.
(23:32):
There's all kinds of campaigninggoing on, because we all have
our preference right.
We know so-and-so better, or welike their stance better, so on
and so forth, know so-and-sobetter, or we like their stance
better, so on and so forth.
And no doubt there's 120 peoplein the upper room here and you
think some probably like justicea little better than Matthias
and some probably like Matthiasa little bit better than justice
.
But here's what I love In Acts,chapter 1, they're so focused
(24:00):
on Jesus.
They're not trying to pushtheir candidate.
Watch what they do.
Look at 24 through 26.
And they prayed.
And here's what they said Lord,you know the hearts of all,
show us which one of these twoyou have chosen.
I love that To take place inthis ministry and apostleship,
(24:21):
from which Judas turned aside togo to his own place and they
cast lots and Proverbs talksabout the Lord being behind that
.
It's like rolling dice.
But we don't do that today andthis is the very last time it's
done in Scripture.
Why?
Because we don't need to dothat, because we have the
leading of the Holy Spirit, theindwelling of the Spirit, amen,
all right.
So there it is.
You get what I'm saying.
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They're not about theirpreferences, they're together in
purpose.
And how are they together inpurpose?
Because they all want Jesusleading for the church.
Right, it's about Jesus'purpose, not really about ours.
You know people tell me now well, you got to have vision, you
got to ask the, you know, findout where you want to go and
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bring it.
You got to have a visionstatement, mission statement,
okay, but here's my visionstatement.
It's to do what Jesus asked meto do.
It's about him, not me comingup with some clever saying.
It's about reaching people.
It's about loving God with allof our hearts and neighbor's
self and taking the gospel tothe uttermost parts of the earth
(25:25):
.
That's the purpose.
Amen, all right.
So they're in unity, byproximity, by prayer and also in
purpose.
So here it is.
We're going to Acts 2 now, Allright, and I'm going to try not
to preach 55 minutes today, butI promised you we'd go here, so
here we go.
What are the results of unity?
(25:46):
So let's look first at verses 1and 2 of chapter 2.
And when the day of Pentecostarrived, they were all together
in one place.
This is a Jewish festival, 50days after Passover.
The word literally meansPentecost means 50.
So from Passover you have sevenweeks.
How many days are in a week?
Seven?
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What's seven times seven oh,you're smart.
And what's 49 plus one day, 50.
So the day after seven weeksyou have this festival of
Pentecost.
And I've got a lot moreinformation about Pentecost in
your study notes.
There's a lot I could say, butthat's not the point today.
But it's worth checking out, sowhat we see first.
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So Pentecost had arrived, theywere all together.
Do you see it again?
Unity, all together in oneplace.
And suddenly there came fromheaven a sound like a mighty
rushing wind and it filled theentire house when they were
sitting.
Okay, so they're together,they're in one accord and
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Christian unity results in thismanifest presence of God.
So, number one it results.
Unity results in God's presence.
It says that there's thisrushing mighty wind, a sound as
a rushing mighty wind, and inthe Greek and also the Hebrew
word for this many of you knowthis the word wind also is
(27:11):
translated breath.
This is the breath of God thatwas breathed into Adam.
It's the life-giving breath ofGod's spirit, it's his manifest
presence, and I know, friends,that God is omnipresent.
You can experience the presenceof God in your car, at home,
even Walmart sometimes.
Listen, miracles happen.
(27:33):
So you can experience thepresence of God alone.
But I'm telling you there'ssomething special that happens
when we come together Amen, heis with us in a special and
particular way, and thisoutpouring happened because they
were all together in one place.
All right, christian unityresults in God's presence, but
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it also results in his power.
Results in His power.
Look at now the verses you wereall waiting for 3 and 4.
And divided tongues, as of fireappeared to them and rested on
each one of them, and they wereall filled with the Holy Spirit
(28:22):
and began to do what Speak inother tongues, as the Spirit
gave them utterance.
All right, let's pray.
No, I'm just joking.
I told you I'd mention it,right?
No?
So what is this all about?
God's power, this is what Iwant you to see.
No, so what is this all about?
God's power?
This is what I want you to see.
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God's power is manifested as aresult of their unity in seeking
God together.
All right, so let me just giveyou some observations.
Let's talk about this highlyinteresting and highly debated
gift of tongues.
So, number one, I want you to,and you can jot this down in
your Bible the word tonguescould be better translated as
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the word languages, that's allit means.
Speaking in tongues sounds alittle more mystical and weird
than just speaking in languages.
So doesn't this sound better tosay, hey, god gave me the
ability to speak in otherlanguages than other tongues?
So either word works, but justwanted to point that out.
Now, remember, this is Pentecost, this Jewish festival, and the
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beauty of this is that Jewishpilgrims that were scattered all
throughout Palestine and evenoutside the Palestinian area
would be gathered in Jerusalem.
I mean, there are multitudes ofJews there and remember, the
gospel is to start in Jerusalemand this is happening.
So this is brilliant that theSpirit is poured out at
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Pentecost.
The Jews, you know, they heardI won't read this whole text,
but in verses 5 through 8, youhave these Jews from different
regions and they all hear these120 in the upper room speaking
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in their own native tongues werelanguages that those in the
upper room they know could havenever learned.
So most of the Jewish pilgrimsalmost all, if not all of them
would have spoken as a secondlanguage Greek.
But then they all werescattered throughout the ancient
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world and they all had also anative tongue or different
dialects, and so they werehearing those in the upper room
shouting out proclaiming praisesto God in their own languages.
Now, do you know that this isstill a gift?
That happens today.
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Listen, I've got three accountsof friends that I'm very close
to where this exact same thinghas happened.
Okay, one of them you rememberMaster's Voice, ricky Capps, the
lead singer, who's been hereseveral times.
He's an independent fundamentalBaptist which, generally
speaking, those people do notbelieve in the gifts of the
(31:20):
Spirit.
And he said, chris, he told methe last time he was here I was
in a church service and somebodyspoke in tongues and it was the
native tongue of this otherperson there and he said it was
amazing.
But let me share another onewith you.
So there's a guy in our church.
Some of you may know him.
His name is Kent Sullivan andhe's a retired pastor and he
came here.
He and his wife, emily Emily,sang on the praise team for a
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while.
Well, he got kind of apart-time pastorship in Irvin,
so he's there now, but he stillcomes to my small group.
I'm very, very close to him andhe's not overly mystical and
all of this.
But let me say this I trust himcompletely.
So he knew I was preaching onthis subject this week.
So let me read you a textmessage he sent me.
(32:05):
He said a true story related toyour message about tongues that
I witnessed.
So this is him personally.
He said Mike Shreve, anotherpastor, and I were preaching
outside of a high school inAsheville, tennessee, to a large
crowd of high school students.
Mike suddenly spoke a loudmessage in tongues that echoed
(32:26):
across the crowd.
Listen, it's so cool.
A female exchange student fromPortugal, from far across the
the field, came running up toMike excitedly saying to Mike
how did you know that language?
And Mike said what language?
And she said you were speakingin an ancient dialect of
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Portuguese that's not even anylonger used.
You were praising Jesus Christin that ancient dialect of
Portuguese.
And Kent said it was a powerfulwitness to her of the reality
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How amazing is that?
(33:11):
You know there are two differentresponses in our text to this
speaking in other languages orspeaking in tongues.
Look at verse 12 in chapter 2.
And all were amazed andperplexed, saying to one another
what does this mean?
So the first group of peoplewere curious Some of you today
(33:33):
who maybe haven't experiencedthis, you're curious.
But there's another group.
In verse 13, it says but others, mocking, said they are filled
with new wine.
They're drunk.
These people are out of theirmind.
And do you know there are stillthose two groups of people
today.
There are the curious, but thereare also, unfortunately, the
(33:54):
critical.
You know there are some pastors, prominent pastors, that have
all, but actually they may haveeven said this right out, but at
least they heavily imply thatspeaking in tongues today is of
the devil.
Do you know what blasphemy ofthe Holy Spirit is?
Do you remember what it waswhen we went through Matthew?
(34:14):
It's when Jesus was casting outdemons and the Pharisees said
you're doing this by the powerof Satan.
He says you've blasphemed theHoly Spirit.
So you know what this is.
Blasphemy is when you callsomething of God.
You give credit to the devilfor something that God did.
You give credit to the devilfor something that God did.
(34:37):
So I hope today this might notbe for you.
Like you may say, you know what.
This is something I'm just notsure about.
That's okay, it's okay.
You could be curious and sayyou know what?
I think it's maybe abusedsometimes.
I've seen it.
It seems kind of weird, but Iam really curious as to what it
is.
That's fine.
Ask questions, even have doubts, if you want.
(35:00):
But I just say guard from beingcritical, are you with me?
Okay?
Next point is this observationthe gift of tongues is vertical.
This is something I wasreminded about.
It's vertical.
In verse 11, the second part,the crowd says we were hearing
(35:20):
them, the ones speaking intongues, in our own tongues,
declaring the mighty works ofGod.
The tongues were not directedat the people listening.
This was not the preaching ofthe gospel.
That happens after this.
Peter stands up and preachesthe gospel.
What were they doing in otherlanguages?
(35:43):
They were extolling God, andthat's the pattern every time we
see tongues in the Bible.
So in chapter 10, spirits pourdown on the Gentiles.
They speak in tongues In verse46, for they were hearing them
speaking in tongues andextolling God or magnifying God.
1 Corinthians 14, 2.
(36:03):
For one who speaks in tonguesspeaks not to men but to God,
for no one understands him, buthe utters mysteries in the
spirit.
So probably step on some toeshere.
But when there is tongues andinterpretation, the
(36:24):
interpretation and I've missedthis, I was reminded of this
even with the last tongue andinterpretation we had I believe
clearly in Scripture that theinterpretation should be a
praise of God.
It's not an interpretation ofGod speaking to us.
Okay, you study that out foryourself.
People who agree with me ordisagree with me, that's fine.
(36:46):
They've been wrong before,won't be the last time.
No, really, we can disagreehere, but I think it's really
clear.
And this is so cool becausethink about this in your prayer
life.
Have you ever read thescriptures?
And, like you, are just sodetermined to pray to God and
you want to magnify him, butdon't words fall short of the
(37:09):
glory and the beauty of God?
And it's in those moments thatthe Holy Spirit takes over.
And, by the way, god, and it'sin those moments that the Holy
Spirit takes over, and, by theway, the Holy Spirit doesn't
possess us and speak out like.
The Holy Spirit puts thesewords in our hearts and we speak
them out by faith, but youbegin praying in another
language, whether it's a humanlanguage or the Bible talks
(37:29):
about there's debate over thisbut a heavenly language,
whatever it is, it's wonderfulbecause the Holy Spirit, through
us, can express things aboutGod that the English language
cannot, and it's a beautifulthing.
So let me just say this is abeautiful, beautiful gift.
All right.
Now, here's how I want to tiethis in.
One more observation, and we'llbe done.
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Here's how I want to tie itinto unity will be done.
Here's how I want to tie itinto unity.
Here's how I want to tie itinto unity.
The miracle of tongues atPentecost was a unifying
experience.
This is amazing.
(38:11):
The story of the book of Actsyou know really what it is.
It's about how God wouldfulfill his covenant and his
promise to extend his kingdomand salvation not just to Israel
but to all the world.
So in the Old Testament, youremember I think it's Genesis,
chapter 12.
God makes a covenant withAbraham and he promises him that
, through Abraham and his family, not just Israel but all the
(38:35):
nations would be blessed.
Now that promise watch this.
That promise comes right afterchapter 11, which is kind of a
crazy story, where there's atower being built in Babel and
the people are arrogantly tryingto make God irrelevant and
they're building this tower.
(38:56):
We can reach the heavens on ourown, and you know what God does
in judgment.
What's he do?
He confuses their languages andthe people scattered and they
become divided.
It's a curse, it's a judgment.
Do you know what Pentecost is?
It is a reversal of the Towerof Babel.
(39:20):
Everybody is hearing andunderstanding the same words in
their own languages.
God is reminding them.
God just said the gospel isgoing out to Jerusalem, judea,
samaria, other parts of theearth, and then the next sign is
God bringing these languagestogether to remind us that we
are one people.
Right, it's not HispanicChristians and Caucasian
(39:44):
Christians and African AmericanChristians and Indonesian
Christians.
We're just Christians and weare part of the same family.
All right, we ought to treateach other like this, right?
Sure, we have culturaldistinctions, but we're all part
of the family of God and it'sthe gospel that unites us.
I'm not a Christian nationalistbecause, as much as I love
(40:08):
America and I'm a huge patriot,it's not about America, it's
about the whole of the world.
Amen, amen.
It's not about America, it'sabout the whole of the world,
amen.
Pentecost was a unifyingexperience, which brings me to
this point.
The gift of tongues shouldnever be used to divide us, and
(40:28):
often it is, and that's nothingnew, because, you know, in the
book of 1 Corinthians, paul iswriting to these believers at
Corinth, and you know that thegift of tongues was used, like
it is today, to divide ratherthan to unite.
Let me just give you quicklytwo ways that tongues can be
divisive.
Tongues are divisive number onewhen those who have that
(40:53):
particular gift look down uponthose who do not.
When I first came to thischurch, I had my dear secretary,
a lady I love very much, missher very much, darlene.
This lady loved God and servedGod with all of her heart, but
she was made by some.
They don't go to this churchanymore, but she was made and
(41:13):
pressured to speak in tonguesand I remember her crying and
going why would God not give methis gift?
And that's what was happeningin Corinth, because they were
saying I speak in tongues, youdon't, guys.
So you know what Paul does in 1Corinthians 12?
He says he has some rhetoricalquestions Do all speak in
(41:36):
tongues, do all prophesy, do allhave gifts of healing, do all
have the working of miracles,and he goes on and on.
And what's the obvious answer?
No.
We're a body with many partsand God hasn't given us all the
same gift.
He gives us different gifts andthat's what makes the body of
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Christ beautiful, and you knowthis.
Let me just say this the giftof tongues is a beautiful and
wonderful gift and it's been apart of my life and my prayer
life for about 20 years now.
I'm grateful for it.
Do you know that?
Paul says, though, that it's oneof the lesser gifts.
He says don't forbid it.
He said I wish you all spoke intongues.
But he said if you're going tolong for a gift, he said I'd
(42:30):
rather you speak.
Five words of prophecy.
See, prophecy within the churchis horizontal.
The Spirit speaks through me tosomeone else or a group of
people.
The gift of tongues is vertical.
I just want you to know.
If you don't speak in tongues,the Bible says earnestly desire
spiritual gifts.
So, man, ask the Lord today ifthat's a gift you'd like,
(42:52):
there's nothing wrong.
I've heard pastors say well,you should never ask for that.
Why?
Paul says to.
But he says so seek spiritualgifts, but especially that you
prophesy.
I had a word of prophecy givenme by somebody that I don't
think has ever prophesied beforelast week.
It was a confirmation of myheart.
It's personal so I won't shareit with you, but I'm grateful
(43:15):
for all the gifts, amen.
So tongues divides when peoplelook down on those who don't
speak in tongues and make themfeel like second-class
Christians.
But there's one more waytongues divides in 1 Corinthians
14.
And, by the way, this is inyour study guide.
I hope today and this week inyour small groups and personal
devotions, you'll read 1Corinthians 12 through 14.
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And, by the way, this is inyour study guide.
I hope today you'll, and thisweek in your small groups and
personal devotions, you'll read1 Corinthians 12 through 14.
But tongues divide within thecontext of the church when
they're spoken withoutinterpretation.
Okay, and again, in allseriousness, I've got people who
disagree with me on this, butagain, I think the scripture is
clear, but I could be wrong.
Paul seems to say let me justread this to you 1 Corinthians
(43:58):
14, 27.
If any speak in a tongue, letthere only be two or at the most
three, and each in turn.
So how many of you ever been ina church I have where they say
let's all speak in tongues,let's all pray in tongues.
(44:19):
Yeah, take your head at me.
Okay, maybe I'm reading thiswrong, but Paul says let there
be two or three at the most andlet each in turn, so only one at
a time, and let someoneinterpret.
If there's no interpretation,here's what he says If there's
no one to interpret, let eachone keep silent in the church,
(44:42):
which I take to mean.
You know, we call it a prayerlanguage.
It's a beautiful gift, I havethat, but that's to be used in
private.
If there's no interpretation,let him speak to himself and to
God.
So what happens when we comeinto church?
(45:08):
You've heard me say this it isnot me and God, it is we and God
.
And so many people today theywant to come in and they want to
be isolated in their ownworship and you'll be
individually blessed in church.
But when we come together, it'sabout encouraging the whole
body and edifying the whole body.
But if you're speaking in atongue that's not understood and
not interpreted, you're leavingthe rest of us behind.
(45:28):
It becomes divisive and Paulgoes on to say that if
somebody's in here that's not abeliever, he said they'll think
you're out of your mind.
And I've seen this happen.
Saw a girl on the front row ina wednesday night service not
here, at another church that Iwas a part of, and she literally
booked it out of church becauseit was so it freaked her out
(45:49):
all these people speaking intongues and she just thought it
sounded like chanting and she'sgoing.
What in in the world is thisand it's sad because tongues is
a beautiful gift.
But Paul says, and Paul saysdon't forbid it, but do it
decently and in order.
So I'm not worried about whatother churches do.
This is the church God's calledme to pastor.
Let me just quickly tell you howtongues operate in this church,
(46:13):
if there's ever a word intongues.
First of all, I would encourageyou at this point to come and
talk to our elders and sayhere's what I'm feeling, and it
needs to be done by a memberOkay, somebody.
I don't want people speakingout who've never been in here,
but it has to haveinterpretation.
(46:34):
Been in here, but it has tohave interpretation and if it
doesn't, we'll gently kick youout.
No, I'm just joking.
We'll just gently say listen,there's no interpreter, but
thank you for speaking out infaith.
We don't want to chastise youif you're speaking, but now you
know?
But the Bible says if you speakin a tongue, there's nobody to
interpret.
He says pray, that you can havethe interpretation.
Isn't it interesting thateverybody says they can speak in
(46:57):
?
All these people say they speakin tongues, but most of them
say well, but I never know whatthe interpretation is.
Why would God not be willing togive that to you.
If he'll give you an unknowntongue, it just doesn't make
sense.
So it's a beautiful gift, butit's to be done decently and in
order.
So now let me give one caveathere.
For those of you who make thisa part of your life in worship,
(47:19):
here's what I would say it'sfine, I've done this just kind
of under your breath in worship.
If you feel so led to do that,okay, but just don't be a
distraction to the people aroundyou.
That's all I would say.
Is that fair?
And again, I could be readingthis all wrong, but I'm called
to shepherd these people, youpeople and this church, and
(47:43):
that's the way it's going tooperate in this church.
Fair, all right?
Who's mad at me?
Raise your hand?
Okay, a few of you, all right,thank you guys.
Love being honest, right?
That's really funny.
So, connor, if you'd come tothe keys Guys, listen, I love
(48:05):
this place, except for those ofyou that raised your hands.
Praise team, you can call themcoming up.
So let me just take us back tounity Tongues.
All this, guys, we got to beunified, which means, even when
you are mad at me, that we're ofone purpose and one mind, right
.
So how do we do this?
How do we achieve unity?
(48:26):
Aw Tozer, this is so good.
Can I have your attention?
Did I preach 55 minutes againBecause it feels like it?
Oh my goodness, what's wrongwith me?
It's good, all right.
They said I could keep going.
Aw Tozer said this has it everoccurred to you that 100 pianos
(48:49):
all tuned to the same tuningfork are automatically tuned to
one another?
This is so good.
They are of one accord by beingtuned not to each other.
You don't tune pianos to eachother, but to another standard
to which each one mustindividually bow, namely the
(49:10):
same tuning fork.
So 100 worshipers meetingtogether, each one looking away
to Christ, are, in heart, nearerto each other than they could
possibly be, where they becomequote, unquote, unity conscious
and turn their eyes away fromGod and to each other oh, this
(49:33):
is good.
And to each other, oh, this isgood.
If we want unity, if we wantunity, we don't sit here and try
to converse and go.
All right, what can we do tobecome more unified?
You know what we do.
We look, we tune ourselves tothe Lord, jesus Christ, and if
we're all seeking to serve him,we're going to be in unity.
Isn't that beautiful?
Oh, I love it.
So let me give you just one todo to you.
(49:55):
Isn't that beautiful?
Oh, I love it.
So let me give you just one todo Now hopefully this is assumed
Look to Jesus and make sureyou're aligned with him.
But I would just say this Ifyou have ought with your brother
or sister in Christ, we call itthe enemy within.
(50:18):
This is how the enemy works.
Attacks usually that hurt achurch are not from out there.
They're in here because ofpeople who gossip and slander
and have issue with a brother orsister in Christ and don't
address it.
So I would just say, for thesake of unity and the sake of
the mission of Christ, if youhave ought with your brother
today, today or let's say thisweek, but today if possible,
even as we sing today, go bereconciled.
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