Keys to be United in the Faith

In the 1970s, I remember we were living in South Africa, and then we had what they called the oil crisis. And we could not buy gasoline, gas, after 6 o'clock in the evening until 6 o'clock in the morning, every day. And we could not buy gas on the weekends. So it really was a very precarious time, a difficult time. And events around the world seemed to be developing to a climax that we thought, whoa, things are going to explode soon.

But then, things kind of calmed down. The wall, the separation there in Berlin came down. And things, events seemed to kind of take a little bit longer than we thought. And now we look back about 40 years later, and events are accelerating again. It's as if there was like a hiatus of events for about 40 years, and then our things are moving forwards again at the ever-fasting, moving pace. We can look at many things around the world, declining moral values. I mean, it's going worse at high speed. We can see the situation in the United States and Britain, and clearly a breaking down of the pride of their power.

That is happening. We are watching things in the Middle East, and as we understand, sacrifices are still to occur, and we're waiting for that because events are going to explode in the world. And then we see some new world orders starting to develop. Publicly we know there's the beasts and the ten nations or kings or groups of nations that will get together, and we see trends moving towards becoming more stronger militarily and spending money, and one nation of those emerging as a new leader.

We also see things developing, southern of Jerusalem in those nations, which are basically of a Sunni division or group of Muslim believers, of the Suleis getting stronger and stronger. In that aside, we see developments, what the Bible calls it, areas of the east and the north, and if we look at that, it would include areas like Persia, Iran, Russia, China, and areas like North Korea.

That would include North and East. So we see developments happening there. In the religious front, we see Satan intensifying his attacks to God's people, to the church, and we will see greater deception of false religion developing in great increase. But, most of all, we need to watch ourselves.

We, as God's people, need to be urgently awake, as we heard in the sermon, and we're really going to be awake. We're going to be having a complete sense of urgency, because the Bible does say, the bride will be ready. The question is, will you and I be part of the bride? Will you and I be ready? The bride will? Will we? Will we be amongst them? You see, it talks about ten virgins, and five were ready, and five weren't. And if we say it's 50%, it's a frightening thought. We can easily think that, well, everything is going on as before. It's okay. In the meantime, Satan is there, stirring the pot, big time.

Big time, stirring the pot. And one of these great techniques is causing people to get offended with one with another. And it says, many shall be offended because the love of many will wax cold. And you know how people get offended? When people get offended, it could be little things, because I do this and you do that, or I believe some little thing yarn, I have a little thing, and bang! Next thing! There's a big argument, or disagreement, or offense. And then, you get people going into the recently, we had a letter from Mr.

Kubik about unity. This letter was dated May 22nd, so it was not too long ago. And I thought of using parts of this letter today, and asked the question, are we unified as we should be? And so today, brethren, I want to bring to you three points, or keys, or areas that help us to be unified in the faith, as we should be. Now, obviously, there are others, so I'm just focusing on three. Now, it's interesting that the subject of unity was first and foremost in Christ's mind just before he suffered, and he died.

Because that is recorded to us on his last prayer in public in front of his disciples in John 17. So, if you turn with me to John 17, and we're just going to read two sections thereof, the first one is in verse 11. John 17 verse 11.

And it reads, Now, I'm no longer in the world. Of course, physically, I was still in the world, but he was saying that he was just going to be there for a little longer, and then, basically, he wasn't going to be in the world. He was no longer in the world. But these are in the world. In other words, saying, look, I'm leaving the world, but you are still going to say, yeah. And I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me that they may be one. That you and I, brethren, may be one.

Now, this is a thing the Jewish mentality does not understand. How can you be one if we are more than one? Well, we are more than one. I mean, we all, like it says, husband and wife, the two shall get together, and they shall become one flesh. The same Hebrew word, echad, one. And God, the Father, was then the highest, and Christ was then the Lord. They were one. Echad, the same word. Like, we ought to be one like they are one. And that's exactly what it says, that they, in other words, us, may be one as we are. And it does not mean that you and I are just one being, but we are one in mind, in purpose, in unity, in way of thinking, in way of acting. We all work together in a unified way. That's what unity is all about, to be one. And if you read a little bit more, in verse 20 through 23 of the same chapter, it says, I do not pray that these alone, for these alone, in other words, he was not praying for the disciples that were with him at that time alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. In other words, he's praying for you and I generations later. It was all of us that are believing what the disciples said and what Christ said. Verse 21, that they, in other words, you and I, us today, in the 21st century, may be one that we, in the 21st century, may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, they also may be one in us.

I mean, really, this is a powerful statement, a very powerful statement, that we ought to be one. Now, obviously, when God is talking about one, he's not talking about one being, but he's talking about one in purpose, in mind, in the way we are. And obviously, to be one requires work, requires effort. We just don't trip and fall and happen to be one in mind and effort and purpose. It requires some effort of us doing something about it. It says that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. Why? Because Christ was sent by the Father, and because of that, we are committed to follow Him and to be one. So we may believe that He was sent by the Father. And the glory which you gave me, I've given them. Well, for God, things that have not happened yet are as if they already happened, because they will happen. And so the glory that Christ has now, we will also have then, when we'll be resurrected. That is very encouraging. That they may be one, just as the glory which you gave me, I've given them, that they may be one just as we are one. I then, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one. It was perfect in unity. And that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Brethren, Christ's mind, just before He died, was on us being one.

This means that the subject clearly was very important to Christ and to the Father. There's no questions about it. Otherwise, you'll be thinking about something else. But just before He died, that's what He was praying. So that was very important for us to have that in mind. And in Mr. Cubic's letter of May 22nd, he says, yeah, and so, in the middle of the first page, and so we see that it was Christ, Jesus Christ, intense desire, that His followers stick together and be unified together in purpose and action. Brethren, to stick together and be unified together in purpose and action requires effort, requires sometimes trials. Our son-in-law was mentioning to me yesterday something, to us in the family, something very interesting. He had just been to a winery in southern France through his company, the Sentient. And there, they had grapevines that grew in an area which is very rocky. And what they said is that that area, that French area, maybe all French people do that in southern France, I do not know, but at least in that area, the key of making good wine was that grapes needed to go through a difficult time growing and growing in rocks and in difficult areas. Because he said that when the grapes are in a difficult rocky area, the roots go deep down and grab the flavor from the rocks and from the mountain, and then you get the best wine because those grapes, when they went through the maturing process, were going through a difficult time. I just thought that was fascinating. And we, as God's people, have to go through a difficult time to make, to ripen, to mature, to learn to be like Christ. I thought that was an interesting analogy.

So there will be trials. We all have trials. We have difficulties. But as we go through this, we are set aside by God's truth. That's what it says. Yeah, if you read in the same section from verses 14 through 17, it says, particularly in verse 17, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. Yes, it says we'll go through trials. We'll be in the world. We'll be hated of the world. We've got to go through these trials. But out of these trials, we'll be made better. But we are made separated, sanctified, like God, through God's truth. We have to stick to the truth.

So, brethren, talking about three key areas to be united in the faith. The first area that I want to mention about is that this truth that we have gives us one very special goal and motivation. And you and I know, and I don't have to turn to you, but you're welcome to. Matthew 6, 33. Seek you first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. I don't have to turn. You probably don't have to turn either. You know it just off my heart. Our goal, our common goal, is to seek first the kingdom of God. And what is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is a family, a ruling family, and that ruling family is a royal family.

A ruling royal family. We are therefore predestined to be members of that royal family, the family of God. Now, the best example that you may think is the royal family in England, and you know those people are raised up in a special way, or at least some of them should be. And they are part of their family from basic birth.

And so us, from our spiritual birth, we are part of that royal family. Look at it in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Yes, Paul, starting up with his usual type of greetings as apostle of Christ to the saints. And then, starting in verse 3, he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Whatever blessings there could be. As a loving dad, as we heard in that beautiful song, as a loving dad, dad wants to bless us with everything he can bless us with. In verse 4, just as he chose us, he named before the foundation of the world. In other words, before time began, before the world was created, the Father and the Word had in mind to create a family of God beings. And therefore, he says that we should be holy and without blame, so that we should be separate, we should be sanctified and without blame before in love, in outgoing, godly concern and love. Verse 5, having predestined us, having decided before the creation of the world that we would be sons of God. The word adoption is a bad translation into English. The Greek word is part of being sons of or sonship rather than adoption. So, it's predestined us to sonship as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his world.

So, brethren, God has decided right before he created the heavens and the earth, before the foundations of the world. Many millennia ago, he decided he wanted to have a family. And for him to do that, the two worked out a plan which would be a fail-proof plan. Yes, maybe some would not make it, but the vast majority would make it. Because God did not make a plan that is full of failure. It's a successful plan. And yeah, we don't see it yet today because we're halfway, not even halfway through that plan. But when it will be completed, it will be an extremely successful plan. Because God is not going to do a plan which is going to be full of failure. It's going to be a very successful plan. So we have hope, not just for us, but a lot of our loved ones. We have hope for them. And that is encouraging. Very encouraging. And then, a little later, in the same book, in the same epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, in chapter 4, in verse 4, it says, There is one body and one Spirit, just as we called in one hope of our calling. Brethren, this hope that you and I have to be the children of God is a very special hope. And this hope unifies us, because it gives us a goal to strive for, a truth to hold on to, and this hope is something to hold on to. When you're down, what keeps you up? The hope! That things will get better. And you know, quite often, we always joke and we say, well, all good things come to an end. Well, I jokingly turn around when people say that. Well, it means, therefore, that all bad things will come to an end. And it's true! And that's the good news, because there is a hope. All these bad things that are going to come, they will end, because there is a good hope that the Father is giving us to be children of God. Therefore, John then adds to that in 1 John chapter 3, starting in verse 1, also scripture that we know very well. But let's turn to it. 1 John chapter 3. And it says, Behold, one manner of love, the Father has bestowed on us. Then we should be called children of God. We should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Therefore now, beloved, verse 2, now are we the children of God, and yet has not been revealed what we shall be.

One of my daughters is expecting. That little baby in a womb is a child of theirs. But, as it says here, it has not been revealed yet how that child will look like until the child is born. But it's already a child of mom and dad. But it's not yet revealed how that child will look like. We don't know yet if it's a boy, if it's a girl. I'm joking to say already what it is, but that's me. I've got a 30% chance of being right.

But anyway, we don't know yet what it will be revealed. So, it has not yet been revealed what we shall be like. Likewise, just like that baby in my daughter's womb has been begotten by a human seed. You and I, as the children of God, have been begotten by spiritual seed.

And we're still in the womb of the mother, which is the church, until we, one day, will be changed or resurrected, whichever situation comes first. And it will be revealed what we will look like. And then we'll see God face to face. And that's what it says here. It says, and it has not yet been revealed, continue to read in verse 2, what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, that is when Jesus Christ comes, when He's revealed at His second coming, we shall be like Him, like Christ. In other words, our bodies will be like His body, a spiritual body, like He is now. In here, it's our glory and we'll have our own glory, obviously much inferior, but of the same type. For we shall see Him as He is. And therefore, because we have this hope, we have this hope that we can hang on. And it's so important we keep this in mind, particularly when days are bad.

Particularly when days are bad. And sometimes when one thing goes bad and another thing goes bad and another thing goes bad and another thing goes bad, and you wonder when is it going to stop? And you just have to grit your teeth, and like in South Africa, say, fast bite, which means bite hard and hold on hard and stick to it and hold on to that hope. And says, everyone who has the soap in him purifies himself, obeys, tips himself clean, be sanctified. It was we have Christ in us through the power of His Spirit to change us, just as He's pure. So, brethren, we have one hope of the call. We are to be the children of God. We have one goal. We need to keep this in mind, brethren, to be united. Because this unites us. This is the truth that unites us.

But in addition to that, this love of the truth is another major, let's call it, thing that unites us as long. The love of the truth that when we hear it, we just know it's right. You don't have to go into sometimes all the technical things and take a microscope and analyze little words. You just know it's right. Like Christ said, machine, know my voice. And it is just so nice. It's so nice. So, we've got to stick on to sound doctrine and love that sound doctrine, which is based on the sound teachings of Jesus Christ. And those teachings of Christ are spirit and life.

Brethren, amongst those teachings of Christ, a simple one is God's Holy Days. God's Holy Days. Because God's Holy Days or God's festivals are a great unifying factor for all of us.

Because we keep them on the same day, we come together on the same day. No wonder Satan wants to divide people with different ideas of different days, yeah and there, different calendars and everything. Why? So we all get scattered.

The fruit of throwing away the calendars we have now, for instance, for all these years I've seen, is only the vision. The fruit has only been the vision. Once you throw away the Hebrew calendar, which calendar do you follow? Calendar X or Y or Z decides and it's just a vision. And therefore, we've got to believe in faith and we've got to follow Christ in faith. God's priests are a unifying factor. They show us God's plan to achieve that goal for you and I to be children of God. They help us to see the goal. Through Christ as our mediator. There's one that intervenes for us. Christ is deeply involved, as they say, maybe in English, in Latin, but he had his skin involved, you know, he paid with his skin, you know. He had his skin on the game. Well, he gave his life. And I didn't mean it in any wrong way. What I meant is he committed himself and he gave of himself, as we read in Ephesians 2 starting from verse 5 to about verse 9, he gave everything for us. That's the mind that you and I need to have. And that's the mind that we can see through the festival of the Passover. And then we have the festival of Unleavened Bread that shows that we have to be committed to obeying. We've got to do everything on our part. That's why it's seven days. We've got to do it completely. But then we realize that we cannot do it by ourselves. We need the Holy Spirit, which is the symbolism of Pentecost. And now we have, as tomorrow is the day of Pentecost, we need God's Holy Spirit. And so, Christ's sacrifice with our commitment and with the help of God's Holy Spirit, that opens our minds to understand the plan of God. Because you and I need God's mind to understand God's things. Just like a human being needs a mind of a human being to understand human things. You don't expect a dog or a cat to understand the things that you and I tell them. Okay, maybe a few things they will do to understand. They can't, right? Understand that. That's the way God made them, and that's fine. But the things of man we require the Spirit of man in man. And that's what we read in 1 Corinthians 2. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 2.

And we start reading in verse 9. 1 Corinthians 2, and we start reading in verse 9. And it says, As it is written, I has not seen, nor ye heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. You and I cannot begin to grasp the wonderful beauty and glory and whatever God has for us beyond this life. We just can't. We just know that we're going to be children of God. We know we're going to have eternal life.

We know a few things, but what we know is so little. It's not even seen through a glass darkly. It's much less than that. It's so little. It's like I use that story from that movie that says, Life is like a box of chocolates. You don't know what's in that box. And that life that is to come, eternal life, is like a real spiritual box of chocolates.

It's just there are such wonderful things that it says, I has not seen nor heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. But I'll be a little burnt, just enough to keep us going. It's just like that little thing that keeps us going, just a little bit, just enough.

Because there's much more beyond that we can't even understand. But we understand what we do understand. We understand through God's Holy Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. Because man cannot understand the things of man except the Spirit of man, which is in Him. And so the things of God we cannot understand unless the Spirit of God shows them to us. So brethren, we need God's Holy Spirit to have the same mind, to have the same way of thinking, to be on the same wavelength as God.

So we need that. And that helps us to be united, to be one, to be in the same mind, to believe the same things. Because God's Holy Spirit is like a key that switches on, that turns on that ignition in our mind, and it starts turning and we start seeing it. So turn to another scripture, Yah, which is in John 6, verse 63. It's a very strong scripture. You may have not thought of this way, but John 6, 63. He says, it is the Spirit who gives life.

It's God's Holy Spirit that gives us life. It's through God's Holy Spirit that we will have eternal life. When He talks about life, He's talking about eternal life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak, in other words, Christ's words, Christ teaches what Christ taught us, and teaches us, Yah, in the Bible, the words that I speak to you are Spirit. The Bible is like Spirit. In fact, it says, it is Spirit. God's words. The Bible is Spirit and their life. As we get it from other sections in the Bible, Matthew, they're the only thing that can convict us and convict is more than convinced. I mean, I can convince, try and convince somebody, but it's still of the same opinion, still.

It's still not convinced. But convicted is when you really believe it and change your mind. You get convicted. It's more than convinced. And the only things that can convict us, convict our hearts, it's God's only Spirit and the Word of God. But after all, the Word is Spirit. The Word is Spirit. So, for us to love the truth, this is the truth. Christ said, I am the way, I am the life, I am the truth. For us to love the truth, we're going to love God's Word.

We're going to love sound doctrine. My sheep know my voice. We have to love sound doctrine. Turn with me to Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1. Verse, at the beginning, verse 1 through 3. Paul, a bondservant of God and a apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledgement of the truth, which accords with Godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

Promised before time began. What gives us time? The rotation of the heavenly bodies. That's what gives us time. How do you set up your clock and your watches? By, basically, watching the sun and the moon and all these things, and therefore, you get time, as we understand it today. And therefore, before time began means before God created everything, as we saw, before the foundation of the world.

Before time began. So once the sun and the earth are in its place and they're rotating, only then can we have days and hours and all that. They're going to be there for us to have time.

And so there it is, in the hope of eternal life, which God, which cannot lie, promised before time began. So yes, double. Number one, God cannot lie until He promised. So it's a double guarantee. Think about it. And this hope of eternal life, which is what? For us to be children of God in the kingdom of God. He promised that before time began. But as in due time manifested these words through what?

Now some people say, all you need is the Bible. Yes. But He's manifested these words through what? Preaching. Preaching of God's Word. You know, there is a Scripture that says that they will come, there'll be a drought. Not of reading the Bible. It says there'll be a drought of hearing the Word. In other words, there'll be no more preaching.

And He says, yes, but as in due time manifested His Word through preaching now through Christ and the Apostles and God's Church, we have a responsibility of doing this job of preaching, which is committed to me. This was Paul, and to now God's Church, according to the commandment of God, our Savior. So we have a commandment to preach. And this is the common hope we have through preaching. And preaching what? God's Word, which is life.

Christ's teaching, which is life. And then I would like you to turn with me to 2 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians was written at... Thessalonians, in fact, a lot of it was written because of people were having different beliefs about Christ's coming. One of the sections, Yah is particularly about it. But then it says, Yah, in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 9, it says, Now, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan. It was the coming of that deceiver that is going to deceive the whole world, will be according to the working of Satan, of all power, signs, and lying wonders. Brethren, I don't think we really begin to understand the power of this deceiver that is going to come up. Brethren, it says, if it were possible, it would deceive the very elect. Now, it means that some of the elect will be deceived.

And it means that the whole world will be deceived. The whole world. Now, it doesn't say the Catholic world, or it doesn't say the Hindu world, or it doesn't say the Muslim world. It says, the whole world. So, brethren, we're going to see things that are going to make everybody say, this must be it. And it says, the coming of the Lord is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. There will be such degree of miracles, of miracles happening in the world, that the whole world, even people in God's Church, will follow it.

I hope you're aware of it, and you're sensitized to it, because we've got to be careful.

And verse 10, with all unrighteous deception, it was deceiving people in ways which are unrighteous. For one, it will be saying that that one is God, being like God, standing there like God, and acting like God, as if you read a little bit earlier, that's what it says, exalts himself as God, and that's idolatry. And it says, verse 10, with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, why? Why? Because they did not receive the love of the truth. Now, that implies, brethren, that they actually knew the truth, but they did not love it, and grab onto it, and they let it go. Think about it. They knew the truth, but they let it go, because they did not love it dearly. Brethren, this is very serious stuff. It is very serious. We've got truth. We know the truth. Satan is going to get so active that if it were possible, we'll deceive the very elect, not just the elect, the very elect. Brethren, we've got to have our noses in the truth, in the Bible, in God's Word, in Christ's teachings, and the teaching of the apostles. I don't know how hard, must I say this, for us to think it's going to be a time of enormous deception to the whole world. Enormous deception. And we've got to love the truth. It's that love that is going to keep us together. Otherwise, we're going to get offended, we're going to hit one another, we're going to start getting angry with one another, we're going to say words that are going to offend somebody else, and then we split ourselves.

So that we cannot do a work.

And who is happy with that? That we can't do a work. God? No! Satan! So we've got to be careful, brethren.

We've got to be careful. We've got to be careful. Go back to Ephesians 4, where we were a little while ago. Ephesians 4. We read about having one hope in verse 4, but let's now jump a little bit further ahead to verse 11. Ephesians 4, verse 11. And it says, And he himself, that's Christ, gave some to the apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Christ has set up His church, and people in His church with responsibilities to do TV programs, to do this, to do that, to whatever He is. Writers, ministers, which can teach, and things like that. Why? Look at verse 12. For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry. And people say, Ah! Therefore, we all in the church are ministers. No! You see, the word, the word ministry in Greek is the atonia.

It's the occurrence, which serves, is serving, so that we are all equipped to serve one another.

For what? For the edifying of the body of Christ. In other words, so that we can serve one another in love, so that the body of Christ, which is the church, can be edified, can be bold, can be constructed. Edified means construct. When you edify, means you make a building. That's what edify means. You construct, you're building the body of Christ, which is the church. Till when? Till we all come to what?

Read it yourself to the unity of the faith. We've got to be united in what we believe, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. That's why it says, grow in the grace and knowledge, that unity is an act of grace and knowledge, and not knowledge about how electricity works, or all the historical facts, or all the knowledge of it, but the knowledge of the Son of God, growing grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Savior, as it says in Peter.

So we grow in that unity till we become a perfect man, perfect, perfect in unity, to the measure of the fullness of Christ. And look a little bit later, in verse 14, so that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro, carried about with every little idea of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, that we may grow up in all things unto Him who is ahead, which is Christ, from whom the whole body joins and knits together, that's through Christ, that we are joined to Christ, He is ahead, joining it together by what every joint supplies. We all gotta do our part together, according to the effective working by which every part, every member, every one causes growth of the body for the identifying of itself, in other words, of the Church of God, in love. As we have here in the letter from Mr. Cupid, it says, Consider the vision statement of the United Church of God, comes from this chapter of Ephesians. Unity represents the outcome of having a shared purpose and vision, a purpose that we all actively work together. To achieve it, we must get in harmony with Christ's bread, that's John 11 we referred to earlier on, and diligently, as individuals, strive to all support and advance that collective purpose as one body in one accord.

And so, that's what we need to do. We need to first have one goal, we need to second, love the truth, and thirdly, we need to be committed to that one body, which is the Church of God. There's not a Jew or Gentile, we won.

We know the Scripture very well in Hebrews 10. Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, so that you can stir up love and good works. How do you know that such and such person is suffering on that person? Oh yeah, you can read things on the Internet, yes you can, but it's a lot better face to face. It's a lot better when we get together and we get encouraged by one another and we help one another.

We ought to love as one another, that's what Christ said. Love others as I have loved you, that's the commandment from the beginning. We also read, love will wax cold, and then men will be offended. So it all ties together. We are begotten children of God, and we as brothers and sisters are our brother's keeper. Look, you read that in 1 John 3, run about verse 12 to 15. We are brother's keeper. We are going to love him, look after him. We are all members of one another. Romans 12 is 5. No one member is more important than another. My finger, Yaacon's take to my other finger and say, I'm better than you. No, no, no, no, no. We are all meeting. If this finger is hurt, you know how the other finger comes there to help. Or if you stub your toe, man, the whole body feels it, and the whole body feels for it. We are the same thing in God's church. We've got to be together. We've got to laugh and serve. You know the scriptures in Ephesians 5, where it talks about man, love your wives, and Christ suffered for the church. Brethren, love is suffering. Love is giving yourselves to others.

We've got to be careful with what we say. So, we have the mind of Christ. Look at Ephesians 4, verse 15. Ephesians 4. We are there in Ephesians now, so just go to 4, verse 15. But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things unto him, who is ahead. Speaking the truth in love. Well, sometimes people say, well, but this is the truth, I can just play it. Well, it says, speak the truth in love. It's different than just speaking the truth. It's a big difference.

Sometimes it's better to just keep quiet. Invite a tongue. In the right time, in love, you can say it, and add a lot more value, speaking the truth in love. We've got to be careful with our words. Are they reflecting the image of Christ? Are we imitating God, as it says in Ephesians 5, verse 1? Therefore, we imitate the God. That's what we're going to do. Look at another section. Look at one scripture, Yader. I think it's just a beautiful scripture. It's Colossians chapter 3, verse 14. Colossians 3, verse 14. Now, you've read the scripture many times, and it says, Love all things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection, which is the glue of perfection. Love is the glue of perfection, the bond. You know, the superglue, the bond that binds. But in the revised kind of version translates it this way. Let's see if I can read my handwritten notes. And in everything, the love binds everything together in perfect harmony. Love binds everything together in perfect harmony. And you think about it, love is that glue that binds everything together in perfect unity. Love is what brings us together to be one. And God is loved, isn't it? And we love our children, our children love us, and that's so beautiful, and that happens. That is what it says, yeah. And above all things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection, of perfect unity, of perfect oneness.

Back to this letter from Mr. Kubikya. It says, We've got to be working.

It says, we ought to wage spiritual, we have to be willing to wage spiritual peace rather than war in our daily lives. In other words, we've got to be involved in making peace through acts of love.

Then he goes on a bit further and says, and you know, for instance, the Beatitudes, blessed are the peacemakers because they will see God. And that's where He will be. The sons of God will see Him. God is a peacemaker. You are not a peacelover, a peacemaker. And that's what Christ has done for us, to reconcile as to the Father, helping us to be at peace, to be reconciled. It's the ministry of reconciliation, the main ministry of peacemaking.

Of course, the waging of peace, says Mr. Kubikya, represents a more difficult challenge. It is far easier to tear down than to build up, but it's worth the effort. With God's help, through God's Holy Spirit, we can overcome the basic parts of our nature. We can put off out anger, envy, and pride, the mental and spiritual types that lead towards that hurt and harm. So, brethren, even though worldwide events are moving faster and faster, and they're going to bring this world to an absolute shattering. We need to have a renewed sense of urgency, as we heard in the sermon 8. We need to be unified as never before. And three areas that I mentioned to you today are to have the same goal, or to love the truth, and to be committed to the body. Brethren, the time is now. As Christ said in His prayer, and turn with me to this prayer that we started in John 17, verse 23-23. John 17, verse 20-23. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may be one as your Father, I am Me, and I am you, that they may be one in us, and that the world may believe that you sent Me. And the glory which you gave Me, I've given them, that they may be one just as we are one. But look at here, in verse 23, it says that I in them, and you in Me, that they may be perfect in one, perfect in unity through love, and that the world may know that you have sent Me. Brethren, it says that glory is going to be on us. We are going to be glorified together, but to be glorified together, we need to be striving to be one, to be peacemakers, and remember these three points. I mean, there are many others, but I just mentioned three that's easy to remember. Keeping one goal, love the truth, and be committed to Christ's body. These three points are very important, because if you keep them in mind, they will help us through all these bad times ahead that are awaiting us. Brethren, as they say in South Africa, bind your teeth hard around the truth, fast-fide, and don't give up. Just stick to it.