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[0:00] Take your Bibles going into Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 4. I love Ephesians chapter 4, by the way. It's a great chapter. I love the truth that it teaches. I love all of Scripture. If you remember a couple years ago when we had our retreat, we did a retreat and we spoke about being connected as a church body a couple years ago.

[0:18] And we were looking in particular Ephesians chapter 4 starting in verse 7. I love Ephesians chapter 4 because in the fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians, I get my job description. And not only do I get my job description, I also get your job description.

[0:30] That's so important. We're not getting into that part this morning, so we're going to be in Ephesians chapter 4 starting in verses 1 and going to verse 6. We're going verses 1 through 6. As much as I would like to just continue on and keep going through that, I think that if we bypass those first six verses too quickly, then we will miss the truth that's there, the thing that's really going to carry the weight of what comes after that.

[0:55] And I know, and my tendency is to preach fast and is to throw a lot of information out there. So sometimes when I know there's a passage in which we really need to get it, I have to discipline myself and confine myself to just a few verses.

[1:08] So if you're physically able and desire to do so, would you join me this morning as we stand together and we read the book of Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 through 6 and we see what the Lord has to tell us.

[1:19] The word of God says, Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.

[1:41] There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

[1:55] Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this day. God, thank you that we have the opportunity of gathering together. Lord, to sing praises, to declare your worthiness, to be reminded of the hope and the joy that's set before us.

[2:09] Lord, as we look at the word of God, we pray that it would resonate in our hearts and minds. Lord, we pray that as we see it, that it would be so much more than a gaining of information, but Lord, that it would be a shaping and a directing of our lives for your glory.

[2:22] Be with us now. Lord, would you speak to us? And we ask it all in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Ephesians is a grand book. The book of Ephesians is really very clearly divided.

[2:35] You remember that, right? We keep reiterating this fact, and I think it is worth reiterating because if we do not, then we lose sight of it. We always want to take things in context. And the best way to take it in context is to see where a particular set of verses is set within a book, within the Bible as a whole.

[2:52] Paul is writing the letter of Ephesians to the church at Ephesus while sitting in jail. We see that even in our own text. He is writing not to really correct any problems.

[3:03] He's not writing to rebuke the believers because they're doing things wrong. We've seen that in the book of Corinthians, right? First Corinthians and even Second Corinthians. We haven't gotten to Second Corinthians yet, but when we studied First Corinthians, we knew there were a number of things that the church was doing wrong.

[3:18] There were a number of things that needed correcting. There were a number of things that he was chastising them over. He was disciplining the believers there. It's not so when we get to the book of Ephesians. He's writing to a church in which he spent more time than any other church that he helped to start.

[3:34] He's writing to a place where he spent the greatest amount of time, also experienced a little bit of persecution, a little bit of suffering. He's writing to a church that was a hub of the spread of the gospel.

[3:46] From the city of Ephesus, the scripture tells us all of Asia heard the gospel, right? And it went out from there. And they began to be proclaimers of the gospel. And he's encouraging this church.

[3:57] I'm reminded this morning, if you've done your daily Bible reading, if you happen to be in the book of Acts, and you're in Acts 14, if you've read it this morning, you've already seen it. If not, you'll see it this afternoon. Some of you are reading other plans, and that's great as long as you're in the word.

[4:10] But Acts 14 tells us that Paul is making his way back and he's encouraging the churches. He's raising up elders in every church and he's establishing the churches and he wants to encourage them as he goes back to report what's going on to churches.

[4:24] Paul carried a daily concern, he said, for the believers in the church. And he writes the book of Ephesians really just to give them some, this is how you live, right?

[4:36] This is what it looks like to live out your faith. And so to do that, he spends the first three chapters declaring theology or truth. And he spends the last three chapters telling us practice or how we should live, our behavior.

[4:51] And we make this transition right here. And it starts with the believer's walk of unity. And we see in the fourth chapter, the first six verses, the believer's walk of unity.

[5:04] How it is very important. How it has an impact on everything because really how we walk in unity with one another dictates how we live life in the community among others.

[5:21] Warren Wearsby says, in the first half of the book of Ephesians, the key word is wealth. What we have gained in Christ, the wealth that we have inherited as believers, the wealth that we possess because God has called us into the family.

[5:34] The key word in the second half of the book of Ephesians is walk. How we behave, how we live, what we do, how we do it among other people and how we do it with our closest individuals we call family, how we do it in a workplace and how we do it among believers.

[5:49] Every part of the second half of Ephesians has a mirror in the first half. That is, everything he tells us in the second part is directly connected to what he's already told us in the first part.

[6:00] That's why it was important to take our time and go through that. And here he begins to speak about the believers walk in unity and he looks at the church first. Remember, he has already told us in the second and third chapters the importance of the church that Christ has tore down the dividing wall.

[6:17] We've seen it over and over again how glorious it is to be a part of the church. But it's not just to be a part of it, it's to be an instrumental part of it. We'll see later on in the fourth chapter that every part has a role to play that we're all here for a reason, right?

[6:33] But it's also that we are to be in unity with one another. Now that's something that, if we'll be honest, is beyond our natural ability.

[6:44] Nothing in this world can unite individuals other than the gospel. because unity is a matter of the heart, not really a matter of the will.

[6:58] Now I say this because great humanitarian aid has been really expelled throughout the ages to try to unite mankind. They have tried to bring men together, different races or different practices or different religions and different, all these things, different interpretations.

[7:18] But nothing has the power to unite individuals across a broad spectrum like the gospel. Because it's a heart issue. It's not really a will issue.

[7:30] It's not a desire issue because man naturally is in competition with one another. But as we see this walk of unity, I want you to see what it tells us and what it shows us.

[7:41] Number one, we see that this is an indicator of salvation. It is an indicator of salvation. Paul says, therefore I.

[7:54] You know, I don't care which translation of scripture you have. I do care which translation. I read from the New American Standard. That's why NASB is what I use. I don't necessarily promote that and tell you, well, if you're not in NASB, you're wrong.

[8:06] You know, we can have that conversation later. We can, if you ever want to privately sit down with me and ask why I chose the NASB or which translation of scripture I prefer, I have my reasons behind it. But it really doesn't matter which translation you open up.

[8:19] Every one of them has that word therefore in it. I looked. I have a number of translations in my office. I have some I've been blessed with, some that I've purchased them on. And I've looked across every one of them.

[8:30] They all have therefore. So when there's a therefore, you need to know what it's there for, right? Makes sense. Because what Paul is saying is because of what I've already told you, this is what you should do.

[8:42] The therefore is important. Some say I therefore. A new American sentence says therefore I. It really doesn't matter. What Paul is saying here is that everything he's going to declare to us from this point on is absolutely dependent upon everything he has already told us until we got to this point.

[9:00] Well, you say, well, yeah, it makes sense. Well, it makes sense, but let's look at it this way. There will be people who try to convince you, it really doesn't matter if we have all the theology, right? As long as we're sincere, as long as we try our best, as long as we do it in love, and as long as we care about people, that's false.

[9:19] Because the word of God tells us that we ought to be in sincerity and truth, right? Therefore, so you cannot separate your practice or your behavior from your beliefs or your theology.

[9:38] If anyone ever tells you, well, I mean, that's just a minor thing. We don't really need to split hairs here. We don't need to get real. Some hairs are worth splitting, right? Some things we need to know.

[9:50] Some things we need to settle. There are big rock issues. That does not mean that every believer in all of the world is going to be, you know, settled in all things because there's a matter of biblical interpretation.

[10:02] That's why we walk by faith and not by sight. There are some things we don't know. But my friend, listen to me. Theology is absolutely essential. Because you need to know what you believe and you need to believe what you know.

[10:18] Because if you don't, you'll never know how to behave. You say, well, I know what I should do. You can be sincerely wrong. Right?

[10:30] I mean, you can. You can be fanatical over a lie. You can be absolutely, lovingly incorrect. You just can.

[10:42] Because those things are all emotions that are dictated by circumstances. Whereas truth is true no matter what the circumstances and therefore behavior should be dictated by truth.

[10:55] This is why when Pilate looked at Jesus, he said, what is truth? And then he walked out and did whatever he wanted to do. Why? Because he was dictated by emotions. He didn't want the crowd uproar. He didn't want all those other things. But Jesus says, I am the truth.

[11:06] He says, what is truth? And if he'd have known the truth, then maybe behavior would have been a little bit different. But we can't go so far as to say that because this was according to the will of God. Right? We understand the sovereignty of God over that.

[11:16] But Paul, that word therefore, it is really important. So if you're opening up scripture and you're just randomly reading scripture or if you're telling someone, somebody comes to you and goes, well, how should I live?

[11:27] You know, how should I behave? What should I do as a husband? What should I do as a wife? What should I do as a worker? Or, you know, what should I do? Be careful. And I'm not saying you can't do it. You can tell us, well, turn to the book of Ephesians.

[11:38] So practical. Ephesians 5 tells you, you know, how to be imitators of God, how to love, and be a loving husband, a loving wife, tells you how to be loving in your family, you know, all these things. That's good.

[11:49] But make sure they understand what happened in Ephesians 1, 2, and 3. They need to know why they should do those things. Because the therefore is there to connect us to the truth.

[12:03] Because I promise you, and I've seen it in my own life, our walk will only be as consistent as our theology. Our theology is just a big word saying the truths we know of God.

[12:18] Right? We will not attain and push and strive to greater things unless we know the greater one. And the reason I know that is because as A.W. Tozer used to say, water never rises above its source.

[12:34] If the source of your salvation and your understanding of Scripture is very shallow, then our walk's going to be very shallow. The more we know of God, the more we want to walk according to God. It's just a matter of understanding.

[12:46] I'm not saying you have to be an expert. I'm not saying you have to have your doctorate in theology or your master's in theology or any of that nature. The Bible says when you speak, speak not with the wisdom of man, but with the wisdom of God.

[12:59] You want to study theology? Great. You don't have to have Ordem's book, Systematic Theology, Grudem's book, Systematic Theology. You don't have to read Hodges' Systematic Theology. Those books are great, but they'll put you to sleep real quick too if you're not really into it.

[13:14] You don't need to have all this true, I've even seen concise theology, which is not very concise. You don't need to have all those things. If you want to study theology, I have a great way for you to study theology.

[13:24] Open up the Word of God and read what it says. Have a pen and piece of paper right beside you. And I encourage you to do this. I did this. I had to do this. This is when I was challenged.

[13:36] You write this down. This is what I believe. And write it down. But don't just say this is what I think. Say this is what I believe. This is what I'm convinced. And then write down beside it why you believe it. I mean, give the scripture references.

[13:46] I believe it because it says this. I believe it because it says this. I believe it because it says this. Paul says what? Always be ready to give a defense for the hope you have within you. He said that to Timothy. Well, he's saying that to all of us too, right? Right?

[13:57] Always be ready. Someone comes up to you and you say, well, why do you believe that? Well, this is what I believe. Not because, well, my pastor told me that. I appreciate it, but don't do that. Don't put, don't base all of your belief upon what I told you, right?

[14:10] Because he said it was true. What if somebody told them something else was true? Right? Write it down. Put it in the spiral and type it up. Print it out. I can take you into the office right now. I can go on the right side of my back desk, stuck in between a bunch of other stuff that I really don't know it is.

[14:25] There's a piece of paper stapled together and it's a real concise theology of your pastor. This is what I believe. And I can hand it to you. You say, there you go. That's what I believe. I did that 10 years ago.

[14:38] Why? Because I needed to because I was going insane. Probably a little longer than 10 years ago. I was already preaching. I needed to work out my own theology. I didn't need to know what Grudem believed.

[14:48] I didn't need to know what everybody else believed. Hodges believed. These are all good works, by the way. I didn't want to know what anybody else believed. I want to know what I believed. Why? Because there's a therefore. Because until I knew what I believed, the rest of that verse didn't matter.

[15:05] Because look at what he says. Therefore I, he says, the prisoner of the Lord. Now Paul is in prison at this time. He's in a Roman prison. But I love how Paul sees this. And I know this is, I told you we had to take our time to make our way through this.

[15:17] I love how Paul sees this. Paul does not see himself as a prisoner of Rome. He's not a prisoner because the Jews handed him over. He's not a prisoner of the Roman cohort that's around him.

[15:28] He's not a prisoner of anything because he says, I'm the prisoner of the Lord. Some translations say, in the Lord. Either way, it doesn't matter. Paul saw his imprisonment being directly connected to the Lordship of his Savior.

[15:40] And when he knew what he believed, then he knew the reality also that the whole reason he was in prison is because there's a greater Lord than Caesar who wanted him to be in prison. So he could say, I'm a prisoner of the Lord.

[15:53] I'm here for his calling, his purpose, to see how it supersedes everything else. Implore you to walk in a manner worthy. That word implore is good.

[16:05] Some translations have beseech, some have urge. American Standard says, implore. Either way, what this is, is this is Paul saying, with all of my being, this is what I desire for you to do.

[16:22] Right? Therefore, I implore you, I urge you, I ask you, I'm greatly and earnestly encouraging you to do this.

[16:36] Walk. Walk, walk by the way, means your daily activity of living. It means to live it out. It just doesn't mean how you walk around looking.

[16:47] It doesn't mean, you know, it just means everything about your life. And you say, Pastor, we didn't even got past the first half of the first verse. I know it's rich, right? He's just saying, I just want you to live your life, every aspect of it.

[17:02] How? How? Now, according, or worthy, it says, of the calling with which you have been called. To walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

[17:19] Again, various translations. King James, New King James, NASB, ESV, New Jerusalem, Virgin, you know, they all have these same words, calling and called.

[17:34] Calling and called. To walk worthy or accordingly or in relation to the calling with which you have been called. So you say, well, what does that mean?

[17:46] This is what we're talking about. This is an indicator of salvation. How you view your salvation directly dictates how you live or walk in your life.

[17:58] All the time. when you see your salvation as a choice in which you made between two okay things and you just made a choice and so it'd be like this, well, that's your choice, this is my choice.

[18:11] See, there's danger in there because there's a lot of you and me in that. Right? And when you see salvation as a choice, then you have the choice of how you live because you're in control of your salvation.

[18:24] but when you go back to Ephesians 1 and you see that he called you gloriously before the foundations of the world were laid, that he drew you to himself, that he adopted you, all of a sudden the initiation, even the motivation of salvation has really nothing to do with you.

[18:45] It is God calling you and leading you and bringing you and wooing you while you were yet a sinner. He chose you and called you to adoption as children and he wanted you and the reality that he wanted you doesn't mean that you just get to go out there and live however you want to live because you're like the God of the universe chose me.

[19:06] I didn't choose him. I couldn't choose him. I'm not worthy of choosing him. I can't even approach the throne of his garment or the edge of his garment. Everyone I see in scripture falls on their faces and says, woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips and everyone that I know in scripture that meets that God feels like they're going to die instantly yet that God chose me in Christ and called me to himself and has enriched me in the gospel and man does that make me want to change how I live because it's not a choice I made.

[19:40] You say, oh well, and if I believe that salvation is all of God then that means I can live however I want to. No, I found the exact opposite. When man believes salvation is all of themselves then they tend to live however they want to but when they know salvation is all of God and they realize oh man, I've got a greater motivation to live how I ought to.

[19:58] It's one thing that is consistent throughout church history and doctrine. All genuine true believers throughout church history realized that salvation is the calling of God not the choice of man.

[20:15] Across denominations, across the ages, every one of them. is only in our day of easy believism where we made it a choice and then all of a sudden we wonder why we see so little reality of living it out because when he called you oh what a glorious position he put you in.

[20:38] See why it's important to know salvation? That's why it's important. You need to know that and hear the life, the living, the behavior is an indicator of salvation.

[20:52] You know the greatest indicator of salvation is not if you raised your hand, it's not if you filled out a card, it's not if you repeated a prayer. I mean you can be saved in any of those ways. I'm not here, I'm not disparaging those things can happen.

[21:03] The greatest indicator of salvation is not if you got goosebumps. I've got goosebumps over some very worldly things, right? I get goosebumps over some great things, I've gotten goosebumps over some bad things.

[21:13] It's not if you were excited, it's not if you jumped around. The greatest indicator of salvation is how you walk every day. End of story. That's it.

[21:27] That's what Paul is saying. I'm urging you and I'm imploring you to know what salvation is and your life will be lived out differently.

[21:39] And that's the greatest indicator. Now I'm not saying that if today you're not where you ought to be, you're not saved, I'm not talking about that, but I'm just saying that if you want to assure your heart and you want to assure the hearts of others, the greatest way to do that is to know who your Savior is and know he's called you to himself and to live life accordingly.

[21:58] Because when you're living accordingly and you're walking accordingly, Satan gets mad but he also has no ammo to throw at you. So we see it's an indicator of salvation. Number two, there is an intentionality of this action because we're talking about the believer's walk of unity.

[22:12] There's some intentionality of this action and Paul goes on, he says, therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. And that's awesome, it sounds like he's talking to the individual and he's talking about the individual but then man, he makes this great transition, he goes from the individual and he connects you to the corporate body, right?

[22:31] That calling would be awesome if you could just go out there and live and walk according to that calling and you're like, well I'm going to go do me but then he wants you to do you with everybody else and then it becomes a problem, right? I mean, because let's just be honest, we get along pretty good with ourselves, we don't always get along real good with everybody else, right?

[22:48] But he directly connects us to it and he says, that calling that you're living out walking accordingly, you're walking and living with other people and Paul wasn't blind, Paul knew the reality that not everybody in the congregation is going to always get along.

[23:03] I mean, Paul didn't like John Mark for a while there, right? He wrote the gospel of Mark and Paul got upset at him because he abandoned them on the first missionary travel and, you know, he was supposed to go with him on the second, Barnabas wanted to take him along, son of encouragement, you know, Barnabas, and Paul's like, I don't want him, he abandoned me, he can go somewhere else, I'm going to tell you, he got upset, later on he reconciled, said, bring Mark back, there's personality conflicts, we understand that, don't ever, by the way, put anyone in scripture on a pedestal other than Jesus, because every one of them will fall on their face right in front of you, but Paul says there's some steps we can take though to walk in unity and some things we must do and look at what he says, with all humility and gentleness, man he starts out with humility, with all humility, someone has described humility this way, the moment you think you have it, you don't, the moment you think you're humble, you're not, because humility is an action that you have that you're not even aware of, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, oh man, humility, gentleness, patience, there's a glorious trifecta we wish wasn't in there, right, patience, some of us say I don't have patience, no, but we have been given patience, it's a fruit with all humility, gentleness, patience, and then he goes on to this, showing tolerance, what a word, for one another and love, that means you ought to display love with one another in a manner of tolerance, showing tolerance for one another and love, every one of you in husband and wife relationship, you do this all the time, you display love by your tolerance, when we go through pre-marriage counseling,

[24:44] I take a couple through pre-marriage counseling, one of the things I always do is kind of help them to understand themselves better, right, so we know their love languages, we kind of know their personalities, we kind of go through those things and we do it together, you say, well that's cool, and I look at them and I say, because I want you to know who you are and I want you to know who your spouse is or who your spouse to be is, because there's going to come a time where you're going to have to be more tolerant of who she or he is for this to work, because every now and then, I don't know if you've realized it, goosebumps don't always last, right, there has to be a time where you have to love intentionally and you're going to have to tolerate something for a while, you say, no, no, marriage is blissful, it is, when you're showing tolerance and love, because as I described to them, I said, there are seasons in my life that I'm not very lovable, I know it may shock you, but there are seasons where I'm just not a lovable guy and my wife has to tolerate me for a season in love, that doesn't mean I'm miserable, it just means I'm just not lovable, my actions at that moment aren't lovable, but Paul extends that behavior and says that that ought to be what's lived out among believers, showing tolerance for one another in love, do you understand this, in this room right here, across,

[26:02] I mean, even just this number of people, there are some of us who are a little bit more excited in our worship, there are some of us who want a little bit more upbeat songs, there are some of us who can have this, some of us want all this, some of us want that, some of us don't even really like the color of the carpet, I mean, we can be honest and say that, you know, we're not real fans of the flowers, I'm not saying me in particular, don't crucify me, but we can say there are some who say, I don't know about the color of that carpet, some of us love the color of the carpet, some of us want to change this, some of us want to change that, some of you may wish I wore a tie, some of you may wish I wore a tie, I wish you'd just get rid of the coat, I liked breathing, that's why I got rid of the tie, okay, and so there are things that we have to show tolerance for one another, right, we're not all the same, but the glory of the gospel is this, is that all of us that are not the same can come together in love and be one body and it not be a dividing force among us because I'll promise you Satan loves to highlight the differences, but these are intentional, look at the intentionality of this, verse 3, being diligent, oh,

[27:13] I love that word, being diligent or to make every effort, some translations say endeavoring, right, it's to make every possible effort to do this, to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, again, this does not mean you overlook doctrinal issues, it's not peace at all cost, right, this is peace under true theology, true doctrine, the truth, it is preserving the bond of peace because the enemy of our souls definitely does not come to bring peace, he comes to bring discord and, you know, to disrupt and disorder, but as believers, as we're walking with one another and we're living with one another, all the one another's in scripture, I wonder if we make as much effort to preserve the unity, honestly, as we make as much effort to disrupt the unity, just my observation of the few short years that I have been allowed to walk on the face of the earth and see church history then,

[28:33] I'm not saying in particular here, I see greater effort going into church today to disrupt unity than I do to preserve unity, now that's not saying, here, I'm just saying in general, that the greater effort seems to be, well, I want it my way, hey, listen, I'm hesitant to even say this, this isn't Burger King, right, you don't rule, I don't rule, there's only one who rules, we don't get it our way, it's his way, and we want to be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, that doesn't mean we ought not hear one another, that doesn't mean we ought not try to be, we don't want to be divisive, we ought to be, you know, loving and truth, and there are a lot of things that seem to become main things that among believers are really not main things, embrace the differences, and to live with intentional actions, and preserving the unity, number three, finally, we see this is an inclusion in the body, this walk of peace, is a result of inclusion in the body, look at what it says in verse four, there is one body and one spirit, one body and one spirit, some old translation, translators and scholars speak of the

[30:09] Catholic church, lowercase c, not capital C, not a denomination, but that is the one church, the church Catholic at large, it just means one worldwide church, I don't know if you understand this, there is only one body called the church, more trace badness is just a local representation of the one body, we are not it, but we are a part of it, right, there is one church, one body, one spirit it tells us, this is the beauty of the book of Acts is no matter where the gospel went and we have seen that, the Holy Spirit falling upon believers, every time the gospel went into a new region it was the same thing, the Holy Spirit would fall upon them, they would speak and they would be moved by the Holy Spirit and it was a testimony, what did Peter say when he got back from Cornelius' house and his Jewish brethren were getting upset at him because he went to a

[31:10] Gentile's house, what did he say, who was I to deny because the same spirit that fell on us at Pentecost is the same spirit that fell on them over there in Cornelius' house, so I can't argue with the Lord because if they have received the same spirit of us, then who am I, right, they have the same thing we do, it's not like ours is a little bit better and everywhere the gospel progresses there's this testimony in the book of Acts it's the same spirit, it's the same spirit, it's the same spirit, it's the same by the spirit, we're filled with the spirit, we're moved by the spirit, here we begin to see there is one body and one spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling, you know what I have found out, it doesn't matter where the believer in Jesus Christ, the true believer in Jesus Christ is, it doesn't matter if they're in the depths of the Amazon or if they're in the middle of a mega city, right, it really doesn't matter, every true believer in Jesus Christ has the same hope, hope of eternity in the presence of a holy welcome them lovingly into his arms, spending glory in the presence of God because of the shed blood of

[32:15] Jesus Christ, but that's not a competition, right, it's not that the hope that I have is competing with the hope of another individual, it's not that they're hoping for it and I'm hoping for it and the first one to get there gets it, because this is a gift that's extended to all and accordingly to his riches, which means he has more than ample enough to give each and every one of, we have the same hope, and if we're pushing towards the same hope and the same longing and we know that every one of us, that there's room and sufficient opportunity for each and every one of us to experience that, then why be divided over it, we're not in competition, right, I'm not in competition with other churches, I'm not in competition with other pastors, I'm not in competition with other believers, I'm just not, what we're competing against is the spiritual forces of the air and principalities of darkness and those who are leading multitudes and multitudes and multitudes to hell, who have no hope, and we see this reality, right, this is why this unity is so important, we're reminded there's one hope, there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, every true believer has the same

[33:20] Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, everyone, it's one faith, one baptism, that not necessarily means how they display baptism, we're not here because the text is not addressing the mode of baptism, the manner of baptism, it's speaking as reality, some think that it speaks of the baptism of the spirit the moment they accept Jesus Christ, it's not something they're longing for or looking for or praying for, it's just being sealed with the spirit, some see it as just a display of action that they're moving through their baptism, however done, I have very deep convictions as to mode of baptism, we get into that when the passage allows us to but I always confine myself to the text, I'm not using it as a springboard to preach anything else but just reality that believers across the world who may live and look differently and even if their mode is different, the message behind it's the same, right?

[34:08] It is the unity of the body and then he goes on and he says, one God and father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

[34:22] Every believer in all the world has the same father. This is why we ought to be concerned about what's happening with other believers. This is why we ought to be concerned about persecution of other believers.

[34:33] This is why we ought to be concerned about the suffering of other believers. This is why we ought to be concerned with, you know, the tragedy that awaits church and we ought to rejoice when other churches are doing good.

[34:44] We ought to celebrate that reality. Why? Because we all have the same Father. We're not in competition.

[34:56] I'm not pushing against. I'm not trying to strive against. Now, does that mean that I think every church has their doctrine right? Again, this umbrella falls under the word, therefore.

[35:10] Right? I'm not one of those who says there are many roads that lead to heaven and everybody's going to get there and in. But I am one of those who says if you're on the road, the right road, and your doctrine and your theology is right, then we can walk that road together.

[35:28] I'm also not so naive to say that this is the only denomination or the only church that is going there. I think there's a lot. I've known people who think, well, there are particular denominations. And I just kind of look at them and laugh and say, oh, you're going to be surprised around the throne.

[35:42] Because some of us are pulling out a piano, right? Some of us are going to shout a hallelujah. And maybe, I mean, but we're going to be surprised around the throne. But I am one of those who says, well, why be in competition?

[35:58] If the theology and the doctrine is right under the therefore, right? Be concerned, support, encourage one another. Walk in unity with one another. Because the believer's walk of unity matters locally and globally.

[36:15] Paul was not in Ephesus at the time he was writing here. But he was concerned about what the church in Ephesus looked like. So I pray for those churches. I lift up those churches.

[36:27] There are churches that are on my heart and on my mind. And I pray for those churches. I pray for those pastors. I want them to succeed. I want them to grow. I want them to mature because that means more people are on the right road.

[36:42] We're not in competition. But this walk of unity absolutely matters. But we need to make sure we have the therefore right. Right?

[36:52] Because if we don't know what it's there for, then we're not there. But if we are, praise be to God. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we can walk with one another in unity.

[37:07] Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this day. God, I thank you that we have the glorious opportunity to be included in the body of Christ, which is called the church.

[37:19] What a grand privilege. The grand position. Lord, I pray that you would increase our burden for believers here, nationally, internationally.

[37:35] Lord, that we would not fail to lift them up, encourage them in prayer to support the ones that we know. Because, Lord, the reality is we know it's about your kingdom.

[37:46] And the stronger the churches, the more opportunity for greater people to be introduced to the king and be on their way to the kingdom.

[38:00] Lord, may our ambition and may our desire be to see your name magnified and glorified among the peoples of the world.

[38:11] Lord, help us, Lord, to live together with one another in such a way that it testifies. Lord, also help us to carry a burden for others that we may see multitudes, multitudes, multitudes of people coming to Christ.

[38:30] We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

[38:42] Thank you.