Message | Until Unity | Week 1 | The Divided Dilemma
Want to learn more about Watermark?
Visit: https://watermarkoc.com/
We would love to start a conversation with you!
On this page
church unity
Explore " church unity" with insightful episodes like "Message | Until Unity | Week 1 | The Divided Dilemma", "105 – Why Isn't There Unity in the Body of Christ?", "The Core Week 3 - Practicing and Pursuing - Audio", "Where is the Church Heading?" and "Confront or Forgive? (Series: A Friend in Jesus - The Book of Luke)" from podcasts like ""Watermark Church OC", "The Bible Speaks to You", "Prescott Cornerstone", "The New Royals" and "Faith Fellowship Church with Alex Ruggieri"" and more!
Episodes (37)
105 – Why Isn't There Unity in the Body of Christ?
105 – Is it possible to have unity in the body of Christ?
Have you ever wondered why there are so many different Christian denominations? And why isn't there more unity in the body of Christ?
In doing a little research for this episode, I found estimates ranging from 1,200 up to about 40,000 different Christian denominations.
If we all believe in Jesus, why can't we agree on everything else?
Why is the Church divided?
If you want to know how, study history. I think the more important question to ask is: Why does this happen? Why does it still happen?
In this week's episode, I talk about two basic reasons: It's about the difference your perspective can make on how you see the Bible. And the filter or lens we look through also changes what we see and believe.
Paul metaphorically describes the church as "the body of Christ"
Just as each part of the human body has a different place and function that coordinates and contributes to the whole, so in the body of Christ, all believers have a unique place and a function that no one else can fill, different gifts, talents, and abilities. Paul encourages all of us to work together in harmony and appreciate how all the different gifts work together as a whole.
Maybe you’re in a church that is the very right hand in the body of Christ. That doesn't mean that everyone else has to be just like you.
But isn't that how many Christians think? They know they are sincere Christians and falsely assume everyone must be just like them in order to be Christian. They have defined "Christian" as being the right hand. They even have their suspicions of the left hand: "I mean really, they have everything backwards."
And too bad for Christians in the left foot of the body of Christ. The right hand Christians think they have to convert the left foot Christians to be just like them.
Christian unity
But the body of Christ is not and cannot be a giant right hand. There are many members or parts and each has a unique place, perspective, and function. Each has something different to offer to the whole that no one else can.
Do you really want unity in the body of Christ if it means letting each member of the body of Christ be themselves? Or do you still want everyone to be just like you?
We need to let go of our personal perspectives and opinions and see things from Christ’s perspective. And we have to let the Holy Spirit wash our mental and spiritual “kitchen windows” that we don’t even realize are dirty.
When we do this, we will be able to say with Paul, "There is neit
Support the show_________________________
James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life.
- Reach out today if you need a speaker or Bible workshop for your church or organization (online and in person)
- Subscribe to the podcast (and get your copy of Praying with the Mindset of Jesus)
- Make a donation to support the show
- Schedule a free one hour coaching call to see if the Jesus Mindset Coaching program is a good fit for you
- Contact James here
The Core Week 3 - Practicing and Pursuing - Audio
Have you ever wondered if the problems we face are normal in human history? Or are our challenges unique to this moment? Today, we face incredible division and unprecedented levels of unhealthiness, both inside and outside of the church. In this message, Pastor Scott Savage continues our series on our core values. He shares about how we value practicing unity in a divided world and how we value pursuing health together.
Where is the Church Heading?
Coming out of the craziness of the past two years, what will things look like for the church?
Many churches have closed, but many have given their lives to Christ as revival seems to be breaking out.
It's clear things can't stay the same.
Can we learn from this experience and grow in maturity?
Can we come to learn how to be unified without demanding uniformity?
Find out this week on the New Royals!
Confront or Forgive? (Series: A Friend in Jesus - The Book of Luke)
There's a time to confront, and a time to forgive. Confrontation and forgiveness have their proper places. If we forget to forgive, we can become cold-hearted. If we forgive to forget, we can become irresponsible. Sometimes sweeping sins under the rug is detrimental to the situation. Sometimes ignoring bad behavior only adds fuel to the fires of iniquity. On the flip side, sometimes confronting someone about their wrongdoing only escalades the situation. Sometimes pointing out a persons offenses is met with unnecessary hurt, and it would've been better to overlook the offense and leave the convicting up to the Holy Spirit. In this revealing message, you'll learn how to find a balance between the two tensions.
Faith Fellowship Church with Alex Ruggieri
en-usSeptember 03, 2021
The Gospel Is Worth Fighting For
If you missed previous weeks' sermons, you can listen to them here! You can also watch videos of the sermons at mercycharlotte.com/sermons.
Mercy Church is located in Charlotte, NC, and is led by Pastor Spence Shelton. To learn more about Mercy Church visit mercycharlotte.com. We would love for you to join us on Sunday mornings! For current service times, please visit our website.
For more video content, check out our Youtube Channel. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter to stay up to date with everything that's happening at Mercy Church! You can also check out upcoming News & Events at mercycharlotte.com/news.
1 Corinthians 12 - A Purpose for Greater Fulfillment
Sermon by Elder Ferlain Hoover
The Proverbs – Part 7: Seven Ways to Hinder Spiritual Growth // Pastor Christian Bonham
Knowledge is not the same thing as spiritual maturity and talking about religion is not the same thing as spiritual growth. Neither Spiritual Growth nor Spiritual Maturity happens by accident and we do things intentionally and unintentionally all the time that hinder our journey to both. Today we are going to look at the 7 Things God Hates from Proverbs 6 and talk about 7 Ways We Can Hinder Our Own Spiritual Growth.
TEXT: Proverbs 6:16-19
Come visit us in person! To learn more about our church visit: www.WeAreBethany.com/plan-a-visit
This sermon is available to be viewed on our YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqmshgH0JLqxzRXiEr2QktQ
Worship Service of Bethany Baptist Church (Wendell, NC/Raleigh, NC)
August 9, 2020
Worship Service of Bethany Baptist Church (Wendell, NC/Raleigh, NC)
Come visit us in person! To learn more about our church visit:
https://www.wearebethany.com
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram
Finishing the Work of Evangelism - Audio
Finishing the work series; Pastor Peter Franz, Grace Free Lutheran Church, Maple Grove, MN
Power of the Pentecost
Scripture Used: ACTS 1:15, 2 Chronicles 5-7, 2 Chronicles 7:1-3, 1Peter 2:9 NIV, ACTS 1:8 NIV
Notes:
Power of Pentecost
- Magnifies the glory of the Lord
- Holy Spirit brings unity
- Holy Spirit equips us for evangelism
- Empowers us to be peculiar
- Gather and Pray
Jude: Part 3 feat. Michael Thornton
Part 3 of a series continuing the discussion on the book of Jude as we are instructed how God's people need to beware of way of Cain, Balaam and Korah.
Support the showSermon - "Cross The Line" (Feb 2, 2019)
Jeremiah 1:4-10
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30
Psalm 71:1-6
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Luke 4:21-30
In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and began to say, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Lectionary Musings - Love Across The Lines (Luke 4:14-21)
1 Corinthians 12:12-31
Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts.
Luke 4:14-21
Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
RTP 08: Becoming a Peacemaking Church
In every relationship conflict is bound to occur - and relationships within the church are no different. Whether your church is experiencing conflict now or is simply hoping to avoid it later, there are biblical keys to resolving church conflict and preserving unity.
Listen as our guest Pastor Curt Heffelfinger discusses how we can create a culture of peacemaking within our churches and how pastors, elders, and church members can work towards preserving unity within the church.
We'll discuss:
- The danger of disunity within the church body
- The importance of maintaining peace
- How we can cultivate a culture of peace within the church
- What church leaders can do
- What those in the congregation can do
- The benefits of being a church that guards and preserves church unity.
About Our Guest
Curt Heffelfinger has served in pastoral ministry for more than thirty years. He is the author of The Peacemaking Church: 8 Biblical Keys to Resolve Conflict and Preserve Unity. He and his wife, Jan, are the parents of six children and have nine grandchildren.
See the show notes at ReasonableTheology.org/Episode8
If you enjoy the sermons and written works of CH Spurgeon, check out the all-new CHSpurgeon.com Here you'll find sermon audio as well as resources by and about the Prince of Preachers.
Get the newsletter at ReasonableTheology.org/Subscribe. The weekly email includes:
- the latest article or podcast episode
- a helpful theological definition
- a painting depicting a scene from Scripture or church history
- a musical selection to enrich your day
- the best book deal I've found that week to build your library.
GET THE NEWSLETTER
Each edition of the Reasonable Theology newsletter contains my latest article or podcast episode PLUS:
- A Theological Word or Phrase Explained Quickly and Clearly
- A Painting Depicting a Scene from Scripture or Church History
- Audio of a Hymn or other Musical Selection to Enjoy
- A Recommended Book or Resource to Expand Your Library
The Main Event!
St. John's Episcopal Church, Dubuque, IA, Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23, Ephesians 2:11-22, Mark 6:30-34
Happy All the Time
Pastor Teis preaches a message on Unity from Psalm 133:1-3 entitled, "Happy All the Time." Support the show
16-09-12 The Unified Church
Pastor Leonard Munday talks from Romans 6 on the Unified Church