 Well, I'm excited to be in God's word with you today. I hope that you guys are as well. And if you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to John chapter 17? And today I wanna talk about the importance of unity in the family. I wanna share a message with you that I'm calling unity in the family. We're gonna talk about the importance of having unity in the family of God. Let's pray. God, we come before you right now and we ask that you would meet each and every single one of us here. As if today, God, you would speak to each one of us individually as if this message was handcrafted for us personally. Lord, would we be empowered knowing that you are with us, that you go before us? And Lord, that you are speaking to us more than hearing from a man or from a pastor. God, we desire to hear your voice. And so we pray that by your spirit, you would speak to us today in a powerful way. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen. You don't have to look very far or to wonder a lot about our country. Because as you look at our country, it's easy to see that our nation, America, is divided. And our country is divided over so many different things. How to deal with race, how to respond to race, how to deal with the problems of the pandemic, what to do with the economy, our nation is divided over political leaders. And as you look at what's taking place in America today, division is everywhere. And as our culture, our society is divided, so too the church is following suit. The more divided America becomes, it seems that the church is following the tides of the culture and society and becoming more divided as the body of Christ. Do we sing or do we not sing? Do we meet indoors or do we meet outdoors? Do we meet in person or do we continue online only? And there's so much debate about and everyone has a different opinion on everything. Everyone thinks of something, it has opinion on everything. And now because of that, the church seems to be more divided than ever before over all of these things. But that was never the church that God has created us to be. And in John chapter 17, we are given a glimpse of God's heart for the church presently, perhaps in a greater way than any other place in the Bible. For in John chapter 17, we see the prayer of Jesus. It's the night before his crucifixion. He just gave the upper room discourse, his last teachings to his disciples. Now, after he's done teaching, he pulls away and he begins to pray for his disciples, but included in that prayer is a prayer for the church today. It's John chapter 17, verse 20. Jesus says, I'm praying not only for these disciples, those who are with him, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. That's you and me, the church today. We've heard the message as God has given the message to the writers of the epistles. As he gave the message in the word of God, we've read the word of God, we heard the word of God and faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. And so now we've placed our faith in God, we believe in God. And now as we do, Jesus prays for those who will believe in their message. He says, here's his prayer in verse 21. I pray, his one desire, his one singular prayer for the church of today is this, that they will all be one. And Jesus says, just as you and I are one, Jesus and the Father were one, one God and three people, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one God. There was a unity and harmony and because there was a unity and harmony between the Son and the Father as one God, Jesus was able to accomplish the plan of the Father in redeeming humanity. Jesus prayed in the garden shortly after this, Father, not my will be done, but your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, as it pertains to fulfilling the plan and purpose that Jesus came to earth to redeem humanity. Jesus was submitted to the will of the Father, although one and equal, Jesus followed the Father's leading and God's plan. There was a unity and harmony and because of that unity and because of that harmony, because of the oneness that they had together, God's purpose and plan for Jesus coming to earth was able to be accomplished solely because of the unity between God, the Father and God, the Son. And Jesus said, just as you and I are one, as you are in me, Father, and I am in you, and may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. The night before Jesus finishes his earthly ministry, he offers this prayer, his desire, his heart is revealed for the church, those who would come after him, who would believe in the message that was given by him. And his heart, his desire is that his family, the family of God, the believers, what the Bible calls the body of Christ would be united, would be one. Jesus' heart is that the church would be undivided, unified in cause and one. That was Christ's heart for this church. And so today I want to share with you three important biblical reasons why Jesus prays for unity in the family. First, number one, the example to society. Jesus prays for unity in the body so that we would be the example to society. And the reason why is because it was God's will and intention always for the church to be the example to the culture and society around, never the other way around. And in a culture and society today that finds itself completely divided over everything, they are looking and wondering where to find truth and unity. And that is why as long as there is division in the house of God on Sunday, there's going to be division and chaos in the nation on Monday. God always starts with his people and what he does with his people, he uses as an example to the nation. That's why God doesn't point his finger at the White House. No, God points his finger at what's happening within his own house. And so God dealing with his family, his prayer, his heart is for unity to have a beautiful harmony and the reason is given in the end of verse 21, so that the world will believe you sent me. The enemy wants to discredit the message of salvation through a family that's fighting among itself. You see, right now the world is looking for something and when the world looks into the windows of the church, we have an opportunity perhaps today more than ever before for Christ to be seen in our lives. Right now as people are looking and wondering the greatest evidence that you have in your life of God is a changed life. Now you can argue with people theologically, you can debate with people doctrinally over the existence of God, you can give them the book, A Case for Christ, and give them all the evidence and they can say, well, I don't believe that. And you can argue with them and they can argue with you, but the one undeniable truth of the existence of God is your life that's changed. That's what Paul the Apostle said when he was telling his Jewish brothers about God and how Jesus Christ is the Messiah, he would use his own testimony, his changed life as the ultimate evidence. When they wouldn't believe everything else that he shared, he said, well, you know who I was. I was the most zealous. I was the young member of the Sanhedrin. I was the one going around and imprisoning and even sometimes putting Christians to death. And now I am following the one whom I was persecuting. The one undeniable, inarguable proof of the existence of God is your life. When people look at you and they say, something's different about you. Maybe that's happened before in your life where people say, man, you're not the same guy that I used to know. You don't talk the same way. You don't do the same things. You're not at that club or that bar. You're not going there. You're not doing everything else that the world does that all of us used to do. Something's changed in your life. And that change in your life, the power of God to save us and then transform us to be more like him is the greatest evidence to an unbeliever that there is a God. It's the difference in your life. Something's different about you. And for the church, the greatest evidence that God is present here with us and in our lives and moving in the church, the greatest evidence of that is the difference of followers of Christ versus those who are in the world or unbelievers. Different from the culture, different from society. But what happens when a church is divided is that there is now no difference between the church and the world. And so unbelievers, as they are looking in, wondering what's different about you guys, they aren't seeing the difference that needs to be had within the church in order for them to realize that God is real. Now the enemy wants to discredit the message of salvation through a family fighting among itself. And when the family of God is fighting among itself, unbelievers that are watching and looking at this are only gonna say, I don't wanna be a part of that family. I remember growing up, going over to a friend's house. And I'll remember sitting at the dinner table and all of the siblings were fighting with each other and then the parents started fighting with each other and then the parents started fighting with the kids and the kids started fighting with the parents and everyone started yelling at each other and I was sitting there watching this whole thing break out and I just began to sink in my seat. Like, and I was thinking, how can I get out of here? I want nothing to do with this family. This is not what I want to be a part of. I think it's so true when it comes to the family of God. When the family is fighting with itself and unbelievers who aren't a part of the family but are sitting down at the table, if you will, beginning to have communion with God and fellowship with his people as they watch and they look what's happening. What kind of example are we being? Do they see Christ and unity in the oneness or do they see division and fighting? You see what the world needs, what society needs more than ever before, right now is a church united. Abraham, the father of faith, he understood this important principle of being an example to society. In Genesis chapter 13, Abraham and his nephew who was like a son to him, Lot, they were being blessed by God and they both had flocks that were flourishing and because their flocks were flourishing, the land couldn't support the growth of both of their flocks. Flocks in that day would be equivalent to stocks in this day. So as your flocks would grow, it's like stocks growing, your wealth is increasing. But now their flocks were being limited because there wasn't enough land to support both the flocks. So the herdsmen, those that were a part of the household, were fighting with each other and that's where we pick it up in Genesis 13, verse seven. It says disputes broke out between the herdsmen of Abraham who later becomes known as Abraham and Lot. And here's a parenthetical insert that's important key to the story. At that time, Canaanites and Parasites were also living in the land. So verse eight, finally, Abram said to Lot, let's not allow this conflict to come between us or our herdsmen. After all, we are close relatives. In other words, we ought not to be fighting. Our households ought to be getting along because we're family. Me casa, sue casa. We ought to be family. And this isn't good. This should not be taking place because the Canaanites and Parasites are also living in the land, possibly a few termites as well. Little Bible joke for you, A plus humor. And so Abram realizes as the families are fighting, it's not a good example because those who aren't a part of the family, of Abraham's family, are in the land as well and they're watching. They're attending the flocks in the same places. They're going to the same job sites. They're working the same jobs and they're in the same communities and they're at the same grocery stores. They're at the same Home Depot picking up some replacement parts for their flock and they're going to the same spots but then they see constant turmoil and it's a bad example of Abram's family name. There are unbelievers watching the family of God, the family of faith. They are looking for something that society doesn't offer but what does it say to an unbelieving world when the church is just as divided over issues that the world is? What it says is that the church is no different from the world and God's intention was never for individual uniqueness to cause any family member to forget what family they belong to. No ethnicity, no race, no color, no nationality, no social status, no neighborhood, no part of the block that you're from, nothing should ever cause anyone by their individual uniquenesses to forget what family they belong to. And so Abram realized that they needed to be a better example to those who were not a part of the family of faith as they were watching. So the question is what kind of example are you being in the family of faith? You see the world is watching Christians fight among themselves, oftentimes publicly with other Christians and you might say, Pastor, I haven't punched somebody in like two weeks, I'm doing good but I'm not talking about a physical altercation. But what I do see as a pastor in the church is people that claim the name of Christ as Christians, arguing and fighting with other Christians and the platform that I see this taking place most on is social media. And I'll see one person post something and then I'll see another person chime in and then I'll see the bantering go back and forth, arguing. And what does it accomplish? Nothing. I've never seen in all of my days watching this take place, I've never seen one person share something publicly because they're convicted on that point and someone else come in and share some stats and some facts from their perspective. And then the person who posted it publicly say, you know what, you're so right. I just want to publicly denounce I was so stupid and I was wrong and you're right, I never knew that stat before that you should, I never heard that before and because you just shared that with me, I just want to say you're right, I'm wrong. It never happens. No, the reason why is because it's public and when it's public, there's something called pride involved and no one wants to be swayed, not because of your points or anything, but because pride is in the way. Now, I'm not saying don't have conversations with people, it's important and because of unity is important, I'm not saying uniformity. Uniformity is everybody is the same and thinks the same way and that's not ever gonna be the case because we all come from different places, different backgrounds with different perspectives, but what it does is it damages the name of God, the family name of Jesus when Christians are fighting publicly with other Christians and the unbelievers are sitting on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok if you're really hip, posting the Michael Jackson meme eating popcorn. If you know what I'm talking about, spectating the verbal brawl that's taking place and ought not to be. Now, in my family, we've had problems, we've had things to deal with. There was time that a brother or a sister was in error and there was correction that needed to be given either by the parents in my family or by a sibling, but what was our family business and the places where we missed the mark, it stayed in our family. We never made a public spectacle about our own family issues. We dealt with it as a family and the differences that we had as a family stayed within our family and it ought to be in the same way as Christians when we make a public spectacle, we are actually tainting the name of God because it avails nothing. Proverbs 26, verse four puts it this way, don't answer foolish arguments of fools. Now you know why I love the Bible. Don't answer foolish arguments of fools or you will become as foolish as they are. Now, if someone says something and you don't respond that just shows that you are above it. But when someone says something and you do respond it puts them above you. So many times people are on usually social media and if you don't have social media or wondering what social media is just hang on for a minute, we'll get back to something that you can understand. But for now, a lot of times people throw out little hooks. They're fishing. I like to call them a fishing scam. They throw out little things hoping that some foolish Christian is gonna swim along and bite the bait and get hooked and get reeled in to a public debate. And so people are throwing things out there and all of a sudden you see a little comment on your news feed and you see it and what do you do? You're like, oh, I can't believe they just said that. I'm gonna take care of that right now and you bite the bait. As you see those things swim in front of your face. And then now you're hooked, now you're in this big debate and all you've done is accomplished nothing. Now have the conversations but have you ever heard of a phone call? Have you ever heard of a, hey, let's get a cup of coffee. I'm pretty passionate about this topic. I'd love to talk with you more about it. That's how you win people over. But by debating with people publicly for the unbelieving world to see, it accomplishes nothing except tainting the name of God. So I wanted to tell you today, don't be a dumb fish. Don't bite the bait. Mark Twain perhaps said it best when he said, never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with their experience. It is true, there are experienced idiots out there. They've been that way their whole lives. And when you argue with them, they have more experience in things that are idiotic and we are in the family of God and there is more that unites us than divides us. We have the blood of Jesus Christ. We are all sinners in need of a savior. No, growing up, I grew up in Orange County most of my life but I'm a Dodger fan. Any Dodger fans out there? We know it's God's chosen team. People say, well, what about the angels? Stop, those are fallen angels. Look at their record. And so if you're a Dodger fan, there's a little motto, I bleed blue. And someone said, amen, that's the first amen that I got was I bleed blue. And as the family of God, we all have the same blood. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that covers a multitude of sins. That's our common ground. We are all sinners. We have all fallen short of God's standard of perfection. We are all in need of a savior. And for those that have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, we have forgiveness of our sins and the hope of heaven. We are all gonna spend eternity together. So you might as well start getting along now because you're gonna be together for a very, very long time. And when we, the church, which is filled with all sorts of different kinds of people with different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different economic statuses, different classes, different backgrounds, different colors are all united, different looking people having a beautiful harmony and unity, then, and it's then as the church, we are the example to the culture of what you need. It is Jesus Christ. But if we remain divided or allow division to take place, then the enemy destroys the message of salvation and people don't see it. Right now society needs the church more than ever before. That's why Pastor David has taken a stand and I love his convictions. As he stands upon the word of God and listens to the leading of the Holy Spirit in his life, realizes the importance of the church in our society when unbelieving politicians don't understand the importance of it. Right now suicide is an all-time high. Right now violence in the home at an all-time high. Alcohol abuse, all-time high. Prescription drug abuse, all-time high. Illicit drug abuse, all-time high. All of these things in culture seem to be unraveling as we watch a world collapsing. And no wonder it's taking place at a time that it was demanded by the churches to stay closed. The church is important. Can I put it this way? The church is essential. And what our society needs so desperately is to see the message of Jesus Christ and they can hear it more clearly when the church remains in unity. And it will allow people to be, to want to be a part of God's family. The second thing that I wanna share with you today, the important biblical reason why Jesus prays for unity in the family is because Jesus understands, number two, the damage of disunity. Matthew chapter 12 verse 25, Jesus said it this way, any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. Aesop, who was an ancient Greek writer and historian, you've perhaps have heard of Aesop's fables. He was around 600 years before Christ. And in his stories, his fables that he wrote, he wrote a story of four oxen and a lion. And in his story, there was four oxen that would remain together as they would meander throughout the fields. As they would graze, they would always remain united. And any time the lion would attack the four oxen, they would put their tails together back to back and side to side. So whatever angle the lion would attack, he would be met by the horns of the oxen, thus remaining safe from the attacks of the lion. But in this fable, it goes on to say that after a while, the oxen fell feuding. That's probably why they call oxen dumb, dumb ox, you dumb as an ox. Because the oxes found themselves divided. And then they found themselves in the four corners of the field separated because that's what happens after division. There's a separation. And now the lion, seeing the division came in was able to take the oxen down one by one until all of them fell. And so Asop ends that fable with this phrase, united we stand, divided we fall. Peter wrote in 1 Peter chapter five, verse eight, be sober, be alerts, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Now, when is our enemy, our adversary, Satan, who's like a roaring lion, is able to take us down and rob still and destroy, and to keep us from doing what God wants to do in and through our lives and in and through the church? It's when we are divided. Now throughout the Bible, the church, the family of God is likened to a body. Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 12, just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. Paul likens the family of God to the anatomy of a human body. Different people, different parts, different purposes, but in unity and harmony form one body. Now, if the body isn't working together properly, it is a body that is health is failing, a body that is falling apart. You know, when you have a bum knee and you can't really walk the way you wanna walk, your hip ends up hurting, your back goes out everything starts falling apart because the body doesn't work together in the way that it should be and the body can't do what the body could accomplish because the body isn't working together. The illustration is obvious. The same is true for the body of Christ. When the body of Christ isn't working together in harmony and unity, it won't accomplish all that God has created it to be. Do you realize when the human body isn't working together? It's what science calls cancer. Cell-to-cell communication, when a cell no longer will communicate with another cell, that is what science deems as a cancerous cell. And the cancerous cell begins to have other cells that cut off communication and divide from the rest of the cells and that division causes cancer. And I think most of us, if not all of us, have seen the ravaging effect of cancer on the human body. We know what it does. It shrinks the body down and then the body eventually and ultimately fails. And so too, cancer in the body of Christ will cause any church body to shrink and to dwindle until it ultimately fails and dies. And so God prays for unity in his family. His heart is that his church would be one because he knows the damages of disunity in the body. A body, a human body divided will fail. A church divided will falter and a house divided will fall. That's why perhaps the greatest tactic of our enemy is to cause division. Now, division is not new. The enemy has been using the tactic of dividing from the beginning of time. Now, Alexander the Great, who was perhaps one of the greatest military leaders of all time, was coined with the military strategy of dividing and conquer. It's interesting that Alexander the Great was influenced in a great way a huge fan of Greek culture and perhaps even learned the strategy divided and conquer from Aesop's fables of the oxen and the lion that when they were divided, they fell. Perhaps that's why Alexander the Great on the front of the coin that he was on was pictured with his head with a lion's head over his head, identifying with a lion that would divide and then conquer. And so too, Satan uses the same strategy as the roaring lion seeking to divide the body, divide the family, divide the marriage so that he can conquer and bring it down and do ultimately what he does best, rob, steal and destroy. And so Satan has been using that strategy from the beginning of time. You can go all the way back to the beginning, the book of Genesis, which literally means the beginnings. And you can go to Genesis chapter three where you see Adam and Eve sent out from the Garden of Eden and cast out because of their disobedience to God. They were divided from the communion and walking and talking in relationship in the natural grown sanctuary that God had grown for them to dwell in. It was the first tabernacle. And Adam and Eve were cast out from that dwelling place of meeting God in a special way because of their sin. You fast forward to Genesis chapter 10. You have the table of nations. It's a chapter of 70 generations from Noah and his family after the flood and how the world was repopulated. But you can just go a couple generations after Noah, his family, Noah, his wife, his three sons, their wives, a couple generations in that family. And you come to Genesis chapter 10 verse 25 and it says, Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg, which means division. For during his lifetime, the people of the world were divided. Then Genesis chapter 11, you have the story of the Tower of Babel where Nimrod, who is a type of the antichrist, was trying to unify the people in disobedience and rebellion to God in another way. And because of their disobedience to God, they found themselves divided, smote in with different tongues, different languages. And because of that, the division that we see in our world today is from the curse that was given all the way back in the beginning days from the Tower of Babel. That's why you can talk to somebody. And it seems like you're not connecting. You can share the stats and the facts and all these things, but you just don't seem to connect with them. It's because like we're almost speaking a different language because that's the curse on the world from the Tower of Babel because of their disobedience to God. And you see division taking place throughout world history. And so many things help drive division in the family and the devil will use whatever he can possibly use to cause more division. He'll use uncertainty. Seems to be a lot of that lately, especially earlier in this year of what's gonna happen with the pandemic, uncertainty of what's gonna happen with my job, uncertainty of what's gonna happen with my family, a lot of uncertainty and the enemy will use uncertainty to create more division. Not only uncertainty, but anger, past hurts, resentment. Fear is a big one right now. The enemy will use fear to divide. Misunderstandings, greed, pride. The enemy will use whatever is at his disposal to divide, to conquer. And that's why ASOP's closing line is this. United we stand, divided we fall. And what the world needs to see is a church united standing together on the word of God, standing for the word of God and standing with God on all issues pertaining to life and godliness. We need to stand for God. And the third and final important biblical reason that Jesus prays for unity is number three because God wants victory in the family. Victory in the family. Victory is accomplishing all that God has created you to be. Victory, winning, doing well. God wants his family to have victory. No doubt that would have been on David's mind as he penned his hit song bestselling chart topping single Psalms 133 verse one. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is good for the body to be working together in unity. It's good. Unity is so important because when we are united in Christ for the work of God, for the work he is calling us to, we will be able to complete that which God has called us to. But if we are divided, if we don't stand together, we will never be the church, not just Calvary Chapel Chino Valley, but the church as the entire body of Christ, we will never be the church accomplishing what God wants the church to accomplish in such a time as this if we remain divided. To illustrate this closing point, I thought it would be a great idea because I like using visual illustrations. I'm a visual learner. So when I see something visually, it sticks with me, it helps me. And I thought about a good closing illustration for this. I was gonna get a giant tug-of-war rope. You ever see those really big ones that like 30 guys get on each side of it? And I was gonna maybe bring up 20 guys on one side and 20 of the strongest Calvary Chapel Chino Valley men on the other side. Maybe some of the ladies too. I heard ladies at Calvary Chino Valley don't mess around. They get down and have a giant tug-of-war battle because here's what you would see. You would see a bunch of men on this side of the stage pulling that way and a bunch of men on this side of the stage pulling that way. And as they're pulling against each other, here's what's gonna happen. Neither of those groups are gonna go anywhere quickly. They're relatively gonna be at a stand still. You're thinking right now, not if I was on one side. You won't go anywhere quickly when you're pulling against each other. And that's what the church looks like a lot of times. One group on this side, you need to get on our side. You need to look at it this way. You need to see it this way. And then the other group on the other side, no, get on this side. Come to this side. Come to the dark side. Get over here. And then the church is fighting and pulling against each other. And a church that is divided that's pulling against each other is powerless to go where God has called us to go, to accomplish what God has called us to accomplish and be the church that God has called us to be. But when we as a church drop the ropes literally of disunity and begin to pull together in harmony, I would bring all the guys from one side and put them on the other side. And then look what happens. The church is able to go where it needs to go and nothing will be able to stop God from doing what he does best with his followers when they are fully sold out for him. Following God's leading and God's guiding. When we pull together, we can accomplish all that God has called us to accomplish and literally nothing stopping or holding us back. No resistance to pursue all that God has called us to pursue. So if Jesus prayed for us to have unity because he wants us to be the example to society because God knows the damage of disunity and because God wants there to be victory in his family then the question I wanna leave you with is how do we have unity? Unity is not uniformity. It's not, you know, we all need to be the same. We all need to talk the same way. We all need to dress the same way. We all need to look the same way. It's not uniformity in the family of God. It's unity in the family of God. Well then how do we have unity if we are all different? Acts chapter two, we see a group of a hundred believers who in that group of a hundred people had plenty of their own differences but they were together for 10 days praying. It was a 10 day long prayer meeting. You think an hour and 25 minute service is long. Like when's this thing gonna wrap up? I'm getting hungry. We'll go get some manudo. A's praying, seeking the Lord and something beautiful took place in that moment. No longer was it saying God, my will be done on earth as it is in heaven but it's God, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And they began praying and seeking the will of God. Not what I want, not my opinion, not my perspective, not my historical background, not what I think should be done in my family or in the church or in the leadership or in that ministry or in my workplace. Not what I think but in prayer, there's a beautiful dynamic that takes place. The purpose of prayer is to tune our hearts and minds to the will of God. Many people treat prayer as a way to get our will done with God as if he was a genie in a bottle. And if I just pray, God, I want you to do this and God, I want you to do this and God, I want you to do this, amen. Okay, go do it, God. But the purpose of prayer isn't to tell God what to do, it's to tune our ears, our minds, our hearts, our lives to the will of God. That's why when Jesus taught us to pray, he said, thy will be done, not my will be done. And because Jesus prayed in the garden that very prayer, Lord, if there's any way that this cup could pass from me, then let it pass. But nevertheless, not my will be done, but your will be done. And so Jesus teaches us how to pray. It's about having Christ's purpose be carried out through our lives and to find out how we can be in tune with that. And now those hundred believers that were in that upper room, as they were praying and seeking the Lord, it was when they were praying for 10 days, it says in Acts chapter two, they were all in one accord, that 120 believers that day in one accord, one accord. Now this is usually when pastors will use some cheesy joke, like all 120 people packed into one Honda Accord. But I won't go there, I won't say that joke. But one accord literally means like a rope of many different threads woven together and strong unified in purpose. They were together in one purpose for God's will to be done. And it was when they were in unity in harmony because prayer produces unity. In Acts chapter two, the spirit of God was poured out on those 120 believers that day. And they began to speak in tongues. And all of the language that they were speaking at that time, there was people from all around the world that were gathering perhaps even 3 million in number for that feast that was taking place in Jerusalem. And they heard their native languages being spoken. It's like if you've ever traveled to a foreign country where you didn't speak the language and you were there for some time and all you wanted to do is to talk to somebody that could speak your language, but you couldn't communicate with just about anybody. And then all of a sudden you hear someone speaking your language, your native tongue, and they could be across the room in a crowded space and your ear picks it up. That's what it was like for them in Jerusalem. They heard their native language being spoken. And so they came and it says that they all heard the same message. As they were speaking different languages given by God, listen, there's a way to reverse the curse from Genesis chapter 11, the Tower of Babel. As the world was cursed with disunity, there's one thing as they were smitten with different languages so they couldn't be on the same page, it was 2,000 years later that the spirit of God was poured out and those same languages that caused disunity, now our language is given by the spirit to bring back unity. And the curse was reversed when the spirit of God was poured out in the church. And so we see the church, the early church was united because prayer produces unity. They were united in prayer. They were united in purpose. They were united in speech. People heard in unity. And God would use that 120 believers to change the world and to make this place a world that will never be the same. And I wonder what God could do with a group of this size in unity and harmony for the same purpose. Not God, my will be done, but God, thy will be done, the purpose that you've called us to be together, to accomplish because God wants us to have victory in his family. And where the spirit of God comes in, unity always follows. If anything will save our nation, if anything will save this world, what this world needs is a revival, the spirit of God to be poured out in ways that it's never seen before. But here's how revival starts. It starts in the life of one person, the heart of one person. And when that one person is on fire for God, then the people around them are lit up. And then those people catch fire and those people catch fire and those around them catch fire and the fire of God begins to spread. No doubt that when the spirit was poured out in Acts chapter two, it says that there was flames of fire upon their head. They were literally on fire for Jesus. And I wonder what God can do with a church that stays united together upon the word of God, upon the leading of the Holy Spirit, as we invite the Holy Spirit in to lead and guide the church because God's not gonna tell one person one thing and tell somebody else another thing, God doesn't work that way. And when we tune our ears to what the spirit is speaking, we will all be on the same page. And that's why I'm so thankful that Pastor David seeks the Lord and he listens to what God tells him to do and he stands by his convictions. And I'm thankful that he listens to the spirit of God as the spirit leads this church. This church is gonna continue to accomplish the great things that God has established, not only in this local community, not only through the Chino Valley, but listen, Romans chapter one, Paul said in verse 13 that he thanks God for the church in Rome because their faith is talked about all around the world. Let me tell you this, your faith here at Calvary Chapel Chino Valley is talked about in churches all around the world because of the impact that you guys have as you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. And I thank God for Pastor David and Marie, I thank God for this church as an example to the community and to the world of a church that follows Jesus Christ. What we need is to continue to operate in the Holy Spirit, following what the Holy Spirit wants to do. And when you bring the Holy Spirit in, whatever is divided, you'll find a beautiful unity, whether it's in the church presently, whether it's in your marriage, whether it's in your family, you invite the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God to come in and unity follows. Whatever was divided, whatever was destroyed, you bring God in and unity and oneness follows because where the spirit of God is, there is unity. Right now in our world, there's all sorts of racial tensions, political tensions, pandemic tensions. What we need is unity in the body of Christ. It doesn't matter your political party. It doesn't matter the color of your skin. We are all in need of the same blood of Jesus Christ. We are all sinners in need of a savior. And that is our common ground. For the purpose and the plan that God has created us for. So let's follow the leading of the spirit. Let's not allow the enemy to come in, Rob still destroyed by causing division. Let's be a church that is the example to society. Let's continue to be the church knowing the damage of disunity. And let's continue to be the church that has victory in the family. In Jesus name, amen. Father, we pray now for unity in the body of Christ. We pray Lord that what the enemy wants to use to Rob still destroyed to divide. Lord would only unite us that much further. God, I pray for this church specifically that we would be able to stand firm and stand our ground because we stand on the word of God. Lord with all different kinds of people with all different backgrounds and the church of this size Lord all different opinions and differing things. But Lord I pray that there would be a beautiful unity taking place so that the world that doesn't see a difference anywhere else could see the difference in your family so that they would wanna be a part of it. So that those who would see would believe in the message of Jesus Christ. And I thank you God for the unity in this family. And I pray for your spirit to continue to be poured out in a mighty and powerful way that you would continue to use this church to change the world. With head bowed and eyes closed out of respect for those around you. Maybe some here today aren't a part of the family of God. But what you need to know is that the invitation to be a part of God's family is for everyone. John 3 16 says that Jesus gave his life because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. The invitation for adoption is open to anyone. The opportunity to be redeemed to be restored to be forgiven of your sin to be made right with God to find a purpose and plan for your life and ultimately having the hope of heaven knowing that Christ is preparing a place for you in heaven is given to his children. And he offers that gift to you today to be a part of his family. And I wanna give you an opportunity to also receive what Christ has done on the cross for you. His blood that was shed for the forgiveness of your sins to wash you clean to make you new. The Bible declares that for all that are in Christ Jesus all the older passed away, behold all things become new. Now I wanna give you an opportunity today to have a new start to leave these doors different from the way that you came in to have Jesus Christ his spirit dwelling within you and making you into the person he's created you to be. And if today you wanna get right with Jesus Christ, he's knocking on the door of your heart right now. All you have to do is open your heart to him. You might say pastor, how do I do that? The Bible says that if you believe in him with your heart and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord with your mouth that you will be saved. And I wanna give you an opportunity to do that today to give your life and surrender your life to Jesus Christ and to be made part of the family of God with heads bowed and eyes closed. If that's you today you would like to be a part of Christ's family. I wanna lead you in a very simple prayer of confessing him as your Lord and Savior. And if you would like me to lead you in that prayer right now wherever your city, I'm not gonna call you forward today but I want you right now wherever you're sitting just to raise up your hand wherever you're at and hold it up high. Listen, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Jesus knows exactly where you are at but by you raising your hand you're acknowledging Lord I need you to pull me out of this pit that I'm in. I need your forgiveness. I need your healing. I want you to raise up your hand wherever you're raising your hand right now if you're raising your hand on the count of three I want you to stand to your feet. You might say well why do I need to stand? Because whenever Jesus calls someone to follow him he calls them to follow him publicly. Jesus wasn't embarrassed to hang nakedly on the cross to die for your sins nor should we be embarrassed to receive the forgiveness he offers. And we wanna give you an opportunity today to stand for Jesus in church because if you can't stand for Jesus in church you can't stand for Jesus outside of church. And listen, when you stand to your feet here's what's gonna happen there's gonna be people that have stood before you making commitments to follow Christ before you did they're gonna applaud you because they know it's the best decision you can ever make in your life. And when you stand to your feet I'm gonna lead you in a prayer of giving your life to Jesus Christ. One, Jesus loves you. Two, he died for you. Three, stand now and receive the forgiveness he offers to you. Praise the Lord. Any others right now you wanna join these that are standing you raised your hand you stand now too. We're gonna lead you in this prayer of giving your life to Jesus Christ. With heads bowed and eyes closed I want you to repeat this prayer out loud and the church is gonna say this prayer out loud to surround you in this prayer. Pray this Lord Jesus forgive me of my sins and fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for dying for me. I give you my life. Take me. Use me for your glory. I will walk with you all the days of my life. I love you. Thank you for loving me. In Jesus name. Amen. Welcome to the family of God. Let's all stand together. Let's put our hands together. Best decision of your life.