Unity In the Spirit

Thank you so much to the combined choir! What a beautiful song! Just powerful! I guess that's what it is. I get to follow it. So I gave myself the most challenging assignment today that I have, which is to keep you awake, as well as keep myself awake in the process of going through this second message here today. It's wonderful to have all of you again here with us in Salem. It's wonderful to combine.

It's good to have all of our brothers and sisters here gathered with us. Well, brethren, 1,994 years ago, on the Day of Pentecost, Jesus Christ set the first stones into what would become the modern Church of God. If you turn over to Acts 2, we've been here several times today. You're more than welcome to follow along as I summarize. We will pick up the section a little bit later, however, in Acts 2. But what we see is a series of events that take place in this section.

We see an account of this Day of Pentecost. We see that the disciples were gathered together. They were of one mind. The disciples at this point had followed Christ's instructions. They had tarried, or they waited in Jerusalem until the Day of Pentecost had come, and now they gathered together, awaiting the miracle that was to come. Suddenly, with a sound like a rushing wind, like unto a rushing wind, divided tongues which appeared like as fire set upon them. The gathered multitude who were devout Jews from all over Judea, those who had had kind of rushed in to come and see this, from up into Asia Minor, down into Egypt, from Rome, from Crete, from Arabia.

All of these people rushed to see what was going on. They were confused. They were amazed at what they saw. Every man speaking was Galilean, and yet those who heard the incredible works of God being spoken in their own native tongues. This passage in Acts 2 specifically indicates that the Spirit of God gave these men utterance. Those disciples that were gathered gave them utterance. They were able to speak languages that they did not know before. Now, the text strictly emphasizes a miracle of speaking. Some have suggested, some have speculated, that God could have facilitated a miracle of hearing as well, allowing each listener to be able to understand as those who were speaking were native speakers.

The text doesn't explicitly state this, and the primary miracle that is described in Acts 2 is speaking in known languages. Regardless, the men that rushed in to check this out, they came over, concluded these men were filled with new wine.

They were drunk. Here these men are, just a bunch of drunkards. Peter addresses the crowd that gathers and delivers an impassioned sermon. He connects the events that these men were witnessing with the prophecies that were contained in Joel 2, with the pouring out of the Spirit of God upon His people, which had been foretold in the books of Isaiah, in Ezekiel, in Zechariah. And these men were seeing it in real time with their very eyes.

Peter takes them and walks them back to the events which took place a little over 50 days prior. Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, their Messiah. He had worked miracles, he'd worked signs, he'd worked wonders in the midst of His people, and He was taken by lawless hands. He was tortured, He was crucified, and He was killed.

Peter preached to them of how He was resurrected, just as David said, just as David spoke of. He spoke of how He appeared to the disciples, how He ascended to the right hand of the Father, and how He poured out this Holy Spirit just as He said that He would, just as God said would take place. Peter boldly proclaimed in the midst of these men that Jesus Christ, the man whom they put to death by crucifixion, the man whom they let go to His death while Barabbas went free.

God made this man, Lord and Christ. The men that heard these things were cut to the heart. What have we done? What have we done, they asked themselves? How had we missed it? How did we not see what God was doing? They cried out to Peter, He cried out to the disciples, men and brethren, our brothers. What do we do? How do we rectify this?

Peter said, repent. Give your sins to God to change your mind, to live in a different way. Undergo the process of baptism. Be fully immersed. Have your sins remitted. Receive the Spirit of God. And Peter promised them that this promise, this same promise which was available to all, would be available to their children, their grandchildren, and to all who were afar off. As many as the Lord would call. As many as God would call to his family, to his church. Peter continued to teach and to exhort those who were gathered, and those who were gathered, many received his words, many were baptized, and around 3,000 believers were added to the church on that day of Pentecost.

Let's go ahead and pick it up where Peter's sermon concluded. Peter's sermon generally concludes here at the tail end of Acts 2. We'll grab it in verse 42 of Acts 2, Acts 2 and verse 42. Luke here records, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. And then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Notice verse 44. All who believed were together. All who believed were together.

And they had all things in common. They sold their possessions and their goods, and they divided them among all as anyone had need. And so continuing daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. Praising God and having favor with all the people. And we see that God, the Lord here, it says, added to the church daily those who were being saved.

You know, the early church is recorded as having been steadfast in their continuance of the apostles' doctrine and a fellowship. They were steadfast in this. They were diligent to this. They believed the same thing. They taught the same thing. They fellowshiped together. They broke bread together. They were constant in prayer together. They continued daily with one accord.

They were together and they had all things in common. Brethren, there was a unity that came as a result of the pouring out of God's Spirit upon these believers. And it was a unity that came about as a result of a common calling that they all shared. A common faith, a common hope, a common baptism that they were baptized into. These believers were together in nearly every sense of the word. They had a shared purpose. And when you see the overall meaning of this day of Pentecost and what it entails, we see a day in which 3,000 strangers from 17 different regions around Judea and its surrounding areas who spoke a multitude of different languages, different cultures, were brought together and cut to the heart, convicted and became committed to what God was doing in each and every one of their lives. Now these 3,000 brethren were brought into one body.

One Spirit, one baptism. And through that initial group of people, Jesus Christ established His Church. He established His Church. For those of you who like titles, the title of the message here today is Unity in the Spirit. Unity in the Spirit. And with the time that we have left today, what I'd like to do is explore this concept as it relates to the day of Pentecost and how we, as His ecclesia, are one body, one Spirit, one baptism, one faith. We all have one hope.

Let's turn over to Ephesians 4. You know, going at the very end of the day has its challenges.

I heard Mr. Consella go this morning and I kept ticking mentally off in my head. Well, he went there. He went there, which is... I'm not gonna apologize because we need to go there. But he got to Ephesians 4 and I went, ahh! He got them all. He got them all. He got most of them. We're gonna actually use Ephesians 4 today as kind of the backbone and outline of what we're gonna go through. This is gonna be kind of... if we had a keynote scripture of a sermon, this is the one. Ephesians 4 verses 4 through 6. That's where we're gonna be through a significant portion of this particular message. In the book of Ephesians, what we see is the Apostle Paul, about 30 years after Peter's words in Acts 2, or Acts 2, records his epistle to the Ephesians while he was a prisoner in Rome. And in this epistle, Paul is encouraging the unity of the believers. Now, in this case, Jews and Gentiles alike as a part of the body of Christ.

But what's interesting for us to notice as we consider the book of Ephesians and as we consider Paul's words, this wasn't just a call to spiritual unity. That was a huge... that was a huge, huge aspect of it, yes. But in the book of Ephesians, Paul is advocating as well for a very practical unity among the brethren, for them to walk worthy of their calling, for them to walk with lowliness and with gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. What would be the things necessary to keep this body of believers together? And that's what Paul speaks to in Ephesians. That's what Paul speaks to, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And these are active concepts. These are concepts that are very active. They are things which require continual action for each and every one of us to be able to maintain. This is not something that any of us have the ability to slack off on. This is not something that any of us have the ability to check out on and say, you know what? Today, I don't feel like bearing with people. In fact, I'm going to let them have it! We don't have that option if we are going to maintain unity. And we've all been there. We've all checked out at times on some of these things. Paul goes on in verses 4 through 6 of Ephesians 4.

Paul makes the point to the Greloacian Ephesians or in Ephesus. He says, there is one body.

There is one spirit. Just as you were called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all.

The church in Ephesus was a diverse church. It was a church in which you had devout Jews, you had proselytes, you had Gentiles, which resided in this particular congregation. 30 years after Christ's death, Ephesus experienced a renaissance of sorts.

Spiritus' renaissance of sorts. Paul's time among them in Ephesus, the believers turned the world upside down, so to speak, as they preached powerfully against idolatry, against sorcery. And through their example, they caused the church of God in Ephesus to grow.

Shortly before Paul was to leave for Rome, where he would ultimately be placed under house arrest, he warned the elders in Ephesus, and this account is in Acts 20, if you'd like to reference it, it's in Acts 20, that there would be those who came in among them, who came in from outside. There were also those who would rise up from their very midst, and they would be like wolves.

And they wouldn't spare the flock. And you know Paul was right. Paul was right.

This body of believers that 30 years prior we see had everything in common. They were together, they were in one accord, they were steadfast in doctrine, they were breaking bread from house to house, these brethren became fractured, they became divided. They were pulled in different directions by false teachings, by dynamic personalities, by misunderstandings, personal issues, and the like.

You know, similar to Paul's audience, we today live in a world of division. We live in a world of conflict, we live in a world of confusion. We live in a world in which our differences define us. We are defined by how we are different, not by what we have in common, not what we have in common together. We're not defined by those things, we're defined instead by how we are different from one another. Brethren, on that day of Pentecost, God poured out a foundation of unity among the body, and 3,000 strangers became brothers, and the church of God began. The modern era of the church of God began. And Paul, in Ephesians, in Ephesians 4, verses 4-6, which we'll use today as our outline, he affirms this unity through several of the things that these believers had in common. Again, we're going to use this as our outline today to kind of walk through these individual things and look at what that means for us today as we work toward unity with our brothers and sisters on this day of Pentecost. Firstly, and you can consider these points if you want to. To me, it's all just one big point, but you can consider them points if you want to. Firstly, the believers belong to one body. They belong to one body. There weren't several different bodies. On that day of Pentecost, Jesus Christ established His church. He established one body. He established one singular body of believers who hold these things to be true with Jesus Christ at its head. And yet, what we see in Scripture is despite this unity of the body, there exists diversities of service, diversity of gifts, diversity of activities. Let's go to 1st Corinthians 12, please. 1st Corinthians 12. We're going to pick it up in verse 4. 1st Corinthians 12.

And we'll grab it in verse 4 as we see this diversity, as we see these things that God put into the body for a purpose. The diversity that God gives us within the body. 1st Corinthians 12 will begin in verse 4. As Paul describes the following, he says, there are diversities of gifts. I'm so thankful that the individuals who are up here for this choir have the gift to sing like they did today. Not all of us share that gift. There are diversities of gifts. There are ways that we are able to serve. He says, there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities but it is the same God who works in all. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all.

To one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit. To another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit. To another faith by the same Spirit. To another gifts of healings by the same Spirit. To another the working of miracles. To another prophecy. To another discerning of spirits. To another different kinds of tongues. To another the interpretation of tongues. And we know within the context of what that really means. But one and the same Spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as He wills. So while the expression of these gifts, the expression of this service might look different among the body, each person serving in a vital part of kind of keeping that whole body functioning, there are two big aspects that we need to keep in mind when we consider this. First off, these gifts that are given are for the prophet of all. They are for the prophet of all. They are for edification of the body, not edification of self. They are not for edification of the self. They are for edification of the body. They are for the prophet of the body. Secondly, it's the same Spirit that works each of these things, giving to each one as God wills. Not as we will, but as God wills. I'm going to quote Mr. Dick from the GCE this year. He was making the point that when we think about our gifts, you know, you think about the things that we think about and we go, it's so easy anybody could do it. Not everybody can.

You know, we think about some of the things that we think, well, it's so easy anybody could do it. Not always. That might just be your gift. That might just be the thing that you do so well.

Paul goes on to describe the body, how its individual parts operate, how each individual part is operating with a different function, but it's synergistic to the whole. While all these parts are working in different ways, they are working together for the body as a whole. Colossians 1 verse 18, you can jot this down in your notes if you'd like. If you'd like to bring it up on the screen, feel free, we won't turn there. But it establishes in this analogy that Jesus Christ is the head. He is the head of this body. It's Him through the Spirit of God that directs the movement of the body. It's Him that gives us the direction in which the body is to go.

And when we submit ourselves to His will, when we submit ourselves to His direction, when we don't seek our own will apart from Him as individual components, then the body can move in the direction that it does. Those of you who have ever broken a bone, or you've experienced a debilitating illness, I think you understand this analogy all too well. When you have a component of your body which suddenly stops functioning, your check engine light comes on. The whole thing, your whole body's check engine light, something's wrong, right? It's the same way in the body, brethren.

The body suffers at times when these individual components don't operate in the way that the head dictates to operate. If your body has that part that ceases to function in synergy with the rest of it as a result of injury or disease, it is significantly more difficult and sometimes nearly impossible to do what you need it to do. William Barkley writes the following on this passage. He says, there is one body. Christ is the head, the church is the body. No brain can work through a body which is split into fragments. Unless there is a coordinated oneness in the body, the designs of the head are frustrated. The oneness of the church is essential for the work of Christ.

Now, that does not need to be, Barkley writes, a mechanical oneness of administration and human organization, but it does need to be a oneness that is founded on the common love of Christ and of every part for the other. Today, this body of believers that Christ established is extended across multiple organizational boundaries, which, if I can be frank, limits the body's overall effectiveness. There's redundancy, there's duplication, and unfortunately a stretching thin of resources. As we look to the future and we consider the future of the church, we frequently speak of manpower issues and how we're going to cover the various areas around the country where we have brethren. I would pause it to you. We don't have a manpower issue. We have a getting along issue, and as a result of that, we have a manpower issue. These things go hand in hand. The body of Christ has to operate in unison. These issues exist because there have been times in our history in which we have not yielded ourselves to the Spirit of God. We have insisted on our own way. We have insisted on what we want instead of yielding ourselves to Jesus Christ.

The body of Christ has to operate in unison. It has to work in unison. It has to pull in the same direction, so to speak. It needs to be synergistic to itself to be most effective. Now, that does not negate—I want to be very clear—that doesn't negate the presence of various organizations doing the work of God. It does not negate various organizations doing the work of God, provided the brethren in those organizations are maintaining love for one another and for God, recognizing that ultimately we are all part of one's spiritual body under Jesus Christ as head. But that body can only be capable of doing these things when it is united in one spirit. The believers were together, Paul writes, in one spirit. Point number two, if you like points, the believers were together in one spirit. When God created Adam from the dust to the ground, he formed him and he breathed life into him. He created the body and then God breathed the spirit of man into that body, causing Adam to become a living being. Similarly, the body that Christ formed on that day of Pentecost needed the breath of life, so to speak. It needed the spirit of God, the power and the mind of God, which would innervate with that spirit of man, completing God's creation in us. The spirit of God that was poured out on those believers that day came from God. It was a fulfillment of the words of Joel, recorded in Joel 2 verses 28 to 29. If you would turn over there, Joel 2, 28 to 29. Joel 2, 28 and through 29.

Joel writes, it shall come to pass afterward, verse 28 of Joel 2, it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out on my spirit, or pour out my spirit, on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. On my man servant and on my maidservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days. We see this promise of pouring out his spirit on mankind, and the acknowledgement of it being the beginning of these last days. That's what Peter refers back to when he speaks his sermon in Acts 2. But there's a big time jump between the events of the pouring out of that spirit in verses 28 and 29 and its effects. The wonders that would come before the day of the Lord, so to speak, later. There's a large time gap there, and what we're left to is the letters of the New Testament. We're left to our own personal experience in some ways in the modern era to grasp what the Spirit of God does in a believer. What that Spirit allows for a believer to do. Galatians 5 verses 22 to 24, again you can turn over there if you'd like, describes a characteristic of a person who is yielded to God in this way, who is allowing his spirit to lead, to direct their life, to direct their interactions with others, to direct in many ways their heart forward in the work of God. And what it describes in Galatians 5 verses 22 to 24 is an individual who exhibits love, who just exudes love, if we can use that term, in the way that they interact with people. Someone who has joy, someone who has peace, describes a person who's patient. That one's a tough one sometimes. Patience can be difficult at times. Someone who's kind, someone who exhibits goodness and exhibits faithfulness, someone who exhibits gentleness and self-control. What we see described as an individual who yields to the Spirit of God, they crucify the flesh. And by implication, its works and its passions and its desires.

The desire for preeminence. The desire to lord it over someone else. Someone who is yielding to God's Spirit crucifies these things and instead takes on the Spirit of God, instead allows that Spirit to lead them in their interactions. It's that Spirit of God which gives us the power to transform our lives. It's that Spirit that gives us the power to overcome sin, to become more like God and more like Christ as we put to death the flesh that lives in each and every one of us.

And through that process, through that transformation, that conversion process, the Spirit of God leads us to truth. It leads us to truth. John 16 in verse 13 describes how the Spirit of God leads us into truth. Brethren, the Spirit of God will not lead us away from truth.

It leads us into truth. It leads us to God. It leads us to greater understanding.

John talks about it in the importance of this in his first epistle. He says that we need to test the spirits. We need to ensure that we're following the Spirit that represents God and not someone and not something else.

Galatians 5 shows us that our being yielded to God's Spirit provides certain attributes and characteristics. What that means is that that Spirit is going to look and it's going to sound a certain way. It is going to lead us to truth. It is going to enable us to discern when messages come our way from so many different places of what spirit those messages are coming.

Brethren, that discernment is so critical today. We are living in a world in which video can be faked. Audio can be faked. You have no idea if you can even trust your own eyes anymore.

The discernment to tell what is of God and what is not of God is critical. It's critical.

Is that Spirit that is coming at us, is it a spirit of division?

Is it a spirit of vitriol? Is it a spirit of bitterness or a spirit of anger? Is it a spirit of confusion? Because if it is, it's not of God. It is not of God. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 33 reminds us the Spirit of God is a spirit of peace. It is a spirit of peace. We need to keep that in mind as we consider this world, as we consider these messages, as we consider these things, as we interact with others. We have conversations with others. Are we bitter? Are we angry? Is there vitriol? If so, brethren, we need to stop and we need to really connect with God. Following the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D., those believers were together in body and spirit. They were connected powerfully to one another in a unity that is incredible. They were looking forward to the same thing. They had the same hope of their calling. Point number three, the believers had one hope of their calling. During Peter's sermon in act two, he pointed those gathered together to Christ. He preached powerfully, powerfully, boldly of Christ's death and resurrection and the hope that was contained within it. And in that sense, those believers who came together after that day of Pentecost, they had their eyes on the same thing. They had their eyes on the prize, so to speak, if we can steal that term. But they had their eyes focused on the same thing. They were looking off into the distance at the exact same goal. And that goal was the upward call of the kingdom of God. That goal was the upward call of the kingdom of God. If you turn over to Philippians 3, I'm sure many of you have had opportunity to work on a team before, most of you. Some of you may remember back to high school and you may think back to group assignments. Group assignments are the worst. What typically happens with group assignments is one person does all the work and everybody else messes around. But when you have an opportunity to work in a team at times, when you work at work perhaps, or other places, we have a group of people that have been tasked to a very specific goal together as a group. Most of you have probably experienced something along those lines.

What happens if in that group or team the goal that each individual is working towards is different?

What happens if everybody on that team is looking at some other different direction and pulling the team in all four directions? Or maybe you have somebody on that team, you've got one or more individuals that are more focused on their own personal advancement and they're willing to step on everybody else on the team to get there. Ever worked on a team like that? I have. I have. Not in the church, thankfully, but with the school district. Yeah, I have. I've worked with people like that.

Trying to push maybe everybody in the team towards their own perception. If the team stalls out, or at worst, the team disintegrates. The team completely disintegrates. It's not effective. Philippians 3 verse 14, picking up after the section that Paul advocates for forgetting what is behind and pressing forward to the goal. What is the goal that that he's advocating for? What is the goal that Paul is advocating for us to be reaching forward to?

Verse 14, he says, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That's a singular goal that each of us are working toward. That's a singular goal that each of us are working toward. And additionally, within that goal and in that context, we see all sorts of other instructions. Preach the gospel. Make and care for disciples.

What makes it challenging sometimes, I think, is that all of us have very different ideas at times of what that should look like. You know, yes, we have the same goal, but we have different ideas of exactly how we're going to achieve it.

But we cannot lose sight of the fact that the goals of preaching the gospel, you know, going through and making and caring for disciples in some ways are subordinate to our collective primary goal, which is each and every one of us together collectively pressing toward the upward call of Christ. And in doing so, we will satisfy those other things. If we lose sight of the overall collective goal and we disagree on the things that lead to the other piece, then we fail.

Paul goes on to describe the mind that this requires. What this is going to take to maintain the focus on that common goal in this world of distractions and differences, to be able to maintain the focus on that upward call of God, that hope of our calling, the kingdom of God, the resurrection to eternal life, and of eternity with God, the reign of Jesus Christ, the New Jerusalem. He goes on in verse 15. He says, therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. And if you think any or if anything in you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we've already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind, of the same mind, focusing on the same goal, operating from the same parameters, so to speak, in accordance with the Spirit of God. Just a chapter earlier in Philippians 2, Paul describes the mind of Christ. He talks about how this mind is humble. It's of no reputation that this mind is a servant to the core. It's obedient. It's lowly. Nothing is done through selfish ambition or conceit. This mind esteems others as better than himself.

Rather, we're not clawing for achievement of that goal at the expense of others.

We all have one hope of our calling, and we can be united in this hope because we have one Lord. Point number four, I think. The believers had one Lord. We're not going to take a lot of time on this particular component because I think it's pretty self-explanatory.

The believers on that day of Pentecost, especially those devout Jews that gathered as a result of that commotion that they saw and heard, already had much of what they needed to know. They had a lot of what they already needed to know. They'd been keeping the Sabbath. They'd understood the Holy Days. They'd understood the food laws. They were under the Old Covenant. They had all of these aspects, but what they were desperately missing to be able to come under the New Covenant was an understanding of Jesus Christ as their Messiah. That's the piece that they were really missing, that they could achieve the forgiveness of their sins through His blood, through the receipt of God's Holy Spirit, to be able to write those laws that they had partially understood for so many years onto their hearts and minds, and to be able to accept the spirit of those laws as well as the letter. Peter eloquently preached Christ to them in his sermon on Acts 2, and those devout Jews were convicted. They were cut to the heart. They accepted Jesus Christ in the covenant of baptism. Those 3,000 had one Lord. They came together and they had one Lord. Those initial 3,000-plus believers rallied under, and they rallied behind Jesus Christ as their Savior, as their King, and as their Master. And while the apostles had obvious leadership roles in the Church, in every circumstance, we see the apostles point the believers to Christ. We see them point the believers to the Father. It wasn't about Peter. It wasn't about James. It was about God. That's what it was about. And as those believers began to separate into factions 30 years after this sermon in Corinth, and they began to rally behind Apollo, Sir Paul or Peter, Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 3, if you'd like to turn over there, 1 Corinthians 3, not too far back here. 1 Corinthians 3, Paul points out that they were only fellow workers, that it was God who gives the increase.

1 Corinthians 3, we see this in this discussion of carnality. We see this discussion of watering and working and warning. He says, Who then is Paul? Who is Apollos? But ministers, verse 5, sorry, at 1 Corinthians 3, Whom, through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one.

Paul says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So that neither he who plants is anything nor who he who waters, but God who gives the increase. He who plants, he who waters are one. Paul and Apollos, they had the same job. They were caring for what God was growing. Each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor, for we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. Paul writes later in 1 Corinthians 11, in verse 1, to imitate him as he imitates Christ. To the extent that the Apostle Paul was yielded to God, to the extent that he was exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit in his life, than those that Paul served were to look to him as an example. It's not about anyone of us.

It's not about anyone of us getting our way or what we want. It's about God. It's about Jesus Christ. It's about what they're doing in the lives of those that he is called at this time, because Christ is the door. He is the way. He is the truth. And he is the life.

Point number something. The believers had one faith. The believers had one faith. You know, Paul outlines in Ephesians 4 that they had one faith. That means Christ provided his followers a set of doctrines and teachings, a package, so to speak, of the beliefs that his people were expected to maintain and to teach. You know, in Acts 2, we see a mention here that the early church was steadfast in the apostles' doctrine. What did the apostles get in that doctrine? They got it from Christ. This was the teachings that Christ handed down to the apostles, and that the apostles then handed down to the early church. They continued to believe and teach that which Christ taught them. Those believers were steadfast in what they were given. Hebrews 6 indicates that there was some form of a collective body of beliefs as a part of the early church, certain doctrines that were present. Let's turn over to the book of Jude. In fact, I heard Mr. Kinsella go to Jude earlier. I went, oh no, no, no! He didn't go here, though, so that works. Jude 3.

We really should talk to each other before we do this. It's more fun when we don't, though, and God ends up lining them up. It's way more fun. All right, Jude. Jude 3 and 4.

Jude 3 and 4. Jude's written likely about 30 to 50 years after Christ's death, and it's kind of a wide range. It's hard to nail it down exactly in that range, but it was a time in which from 30 to 50 years or so after Christ's death, it was a time in which false teachers were making a pretty significant inroad into the Church of God. Contextually, during that period of history, we have only a little bit enumerated by Jude here as to exactly what this looks like, but we see the development and we see the spread of various early Gnostic teachings that begin to infiltrate the Church. And as the apostles were martyred and killed, starting in 44 A.D. with James, brother of John, and then Peter and Paul and the other James in 60s A.D., along with so many other faithful apostles and members during that time, Jude found it necessary to write to the brethren to contend for the faith once delivered. Jude 3 and 4. It says, Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turned the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude says he intended to write the brethren to their common salvation, about their hope, their faith, what they were looking forward to, that common salvation that we're looking toward in Christ, that coming of Christ, the resurrection, the coming kingdom. But instead, Jude writes, he found it necessary to write to exhort them to contend earnestly, to fight, so to speak, to stand strong for the faith once delivered. The context of this, the way that he at least puts it, speaks toward a package of teachings, so to speak. Doctrines of the early church that were in danger of being lost, being forgotten, or being irrevocably changed due to these gnostic inroads.

Jude's letter encourages them to fight for what's true, to stand against the deception, to stand against the falsehood, stand against antinomianism, the teachings that come along with that, and to hold what was right and true. Things that Christ taught just decades earlier, not running outside of those boundaries for tantalizing teachings that were tainted with Greek philosophy or Egyptian philosophy, but instead, contending for the faith once delivered, the teachings of Jesus Christ, handed down to the apostles, handed down to the early church. Jude said, we've got to stand up and fight for these things. We have one faith. We have one thing that we keep together. Additionally, the believers had one baptism. They had one baptism. They gathered on that day of Pentecost, and everyone that gathered on that day of Pentecost, they all entered the same formalized path to God that all of the other believers had entered into, the covenant of baptism. There are not multiple pathways to God. As the common vernacular says today, all roads lead to God. That is not true. There is one road. There is one path. There is one door. Full reconciliation with God. Forgiveness of sins, the receipt of God's Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. That comes through a formal process of the covenant of water baptism. It's through that baptism that we enter into the body, regardless of where we began. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12, we're exploring this concept here a little bit earlier of the diversity in the body, but a little further down into this analogy that he develops here on the body, we see an important point regarding baptism. 1 Corinthians 12, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 12. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12.

1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12 says, For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. Verse 13, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. Verse 14, he says, For in fact the body is not one member, but many. You know, body of believers, this body of believers, look around the room. Go ahead, you can. Look around the room. We're made up of many different members. We're made up of many different members, but all of these members, being many, are one body, just as Christ is one body. And we were baptized into this body, regardless of our background, regardless of our gender, our status.

And through that baptism, as Peter promised on that sermon on Pentecost, we receive the Spirit of God, of which we then drink into. As such, baptism is what enables us to enter the body. It is the pathway to the body of Christ. The very Church of God, His Eclaecia, a group of individuals that have been called to come together collectively for the purposes of God. You know, we baptize somebody in the Church of God. We don't baptize them into any sect or denomination of this world. We baptize them through the authority of Jesus Christ into His body, into the Father's name, the name which Christ shares, and with the Spirit of God.

That baptism must be immersion, as we see outlined in Scripture. It must involve the laying on of hands. A person must understand what they're entering into, which is why we take the time to do baptism counseling today. That's why we take the time to make sure a person understands all those aspects of what that covenantal agreement entails. There is only one baptism, and it is the baptism that God defines in Scripture. That's it! Sometimes individuals experience a baptism in other denominations. Often that baptism doesn't meet the specifications of Scripture. Maybe it didn't involve immersion. Maybe it didn't follow with the laying on of hands. Maybe it did have immersion in the laying on of hands, but that person got baptized when they were very young, and they were too young to actually understand what covenantal agreement they were entering into. In cases such as these, it may be termed that that first baptism may be invalid, due to it not meeting specifications of what a true baptism involves. Maybe they need to be baptized in accordance with Scripture to be able to truly enter into the body. There are not many baptisms. There is only one, because there is only one God and Father of all. The believers had one God and Father of all. Point number something. Baptism, I can't honestly keep track where I am currently. I think it's seven, maybe six. I don't know. Baptism is the method by which we enter into the new covenant. Through that covenant of baptism, we're reconciled to the Father. We're reconciled to Him through the blood of Jesus Christ, which has been accepted on our behalf as part of that agreement. And then our sins are forgiven. Spirit of God, which we receive, enables us to work on ridding ourselves of our carnal human nature, becoming more like Christ in the Father. There is no reconciliation to the Father except through Christ. There is nothing that there is nothing that any of us can do apart from Christ to bring us back to the Father as a result of our own sins. There's no other reconciliation to the Father except through Christ. There's no pathway to Christ except through baptism. The Spirit which dwells in us after baptism, which was poured out on those gathered 1,994 years ago today, enables us to be the very children of God that are begotten not by the will of man but by the will of God. We have one Father. We have one Father. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 8. 1 Corinthians 8. Paul explains this relationship between the Father and Christ and how they have worked together throughout time. 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 6, Paul writes, yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things and we for Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live.

Paul describes this relationship. He helps us to understand that all things are of the Father, but they took place through Christ. Creation was of the Father, but it was through Jesus Christ.

The resurrection is of the Father, but it was through Jesus Christ. Our calling is of the Father, but it's through Jesus Christ. The Word divested Himself. That relationship continued. He became the Son and He died for creation. Judgment is of God and through Christ. Forgiveness is of God and through Christ. Our covenant is with God. It is of Him and it is through Jesus Christ. That is the general basic relationship that we see set up in this way. And all who have entered that covenant, all who have come to God in that covenant, are in the truest sense of the word, brothers and sisters. Even those that have not yet entered that covenant have the potential to be future children of God. He truly is the Father of all. And brethren, therein lies one of the truest understandings of unity through His Spirit. If we, as the people of God, are one with Him, one with Him, if we are yielded to God, if we are near to Him, if we are obeying, if we are following Him, if we are exhibiting His characteristics in our actions, if we're putting His Spirit to work in our lives, brethren, we will be unified. We will be unified.

On that day of Pentecost, 1994 years ago, the pouring out of the Spirit of God caused 3,000-plus strangers to become brothers. As they went forward from the events of that day, God worked in them mightily to enable them to be together, to be working on a common purpose and a shared goal, and to be focused on that mission that God had provided. What we see as a result is, in that interim time, God added to the church daily. That church grew. It expanded. They went outward from there to the surrounding regions, and they grew, and they expanded. They were in one accord. They were together. They had all things in common. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship, and brethren, they had favor with all the people.

While there's been 1,994 years that have passed since the events of this day, brethren, we are these believers. We are the church. We are His very ecclesia. And when we see these things discussed today, we're not talking about somebody else. We're not pointing fingers at this place or that place.

We're talking about our own personal interactions, our own personal engagement, our own expression of our faith. We are the church. We're the church. We are His body made alive through His Spirit. We're striving for the same hope as a part of our collective calling. We have one Lord, the head of that body, Jesus Christ. We have one faith, both in our common salvation and the collective body of beliefs that have been handed down from Christ to the saints to be preserved and to be restored throughout history. We've all been baptized into the same baptism. We've all entered the same path to God through Christ and through His blood on our behalf, which reconciles us with our God and the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. As a result of this, and Mr. Kinsella touched on this this morning, we have more in common with one another in this body than we do with anyone else who does not possess this Spirit. We have more in common with one another sitting in this room than you do with your own family, your own blood, that does not have the Spirit of God.

Brethren, that has to bring us together. That has to strengthen us. That has to unify us.

Brethren, let us rise to the expectation of this calling. Let us pray that we can each individually embody these characteristics that we see in the early church in those precious days following that day of Pentecost and go forward collectively in commitment and dedication to being together, being one with God and being one with one another.