If us being one draws people who don't know Jesus into the kingdom, then us not being one will not draw them into the kingdom. That's too expensive.
That is too expensive for our petty personal preferences to be the cost. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the Senior Pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. When a church doesn't walk in unity, it costs us the souls of men and women who don't know Jesus. Find out how we can walk in unity as Pastor David continues in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. But before we join David, have you ever considered the Bible as a whole? It's more than just a history book, a book of poetry, or a series of stories to share in Sunday School class. The Bible is one book with one central message.
You heard me right. There is one main message in the Bible and David McGee is ready to share that life-changing message with you in his latest DVD entitled, One Book, One Message. Join David as he takes you from Genesis to Revelation and unlocks the most profound truth of all the Scripture. You'll never look at the Bible the same way again. The DVD One Book, One Message is our gift to you when you call to support Cross the Bridge today.
You can call 877-458-5508 or go online to crossthebridge.com. Now here's David McGee with part two of his teaching, All Become One. We find ourselves in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12 says, for as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. When we talk about the body, we're really talking about two things. There's the body, the church, big C, if you will, the universal church.
That means everybody everywhere who believes that Jesus is their savior is part of the church, but we don't all go to the same place on Sunday morning. So that's one view of the body. Another view of the body, both of these are supported by Scripture. Another view of the body is that local community or fellowship that we choose or called or led to attend. So we've got the universal church and then we've got the local body community.
Now those things are measured by two very different things. The universal church, we had a thing a few weeks ago and we had all sorts of pastors from all over the place. We had them in here, we ate together, we prayed together, and some of these people that came together believed very different things about the Bible, about worship, about ministry, about from whether a pastor should wear a robe to, I mean just all sorts of stuff.
But when we got together, what did we do? We got together, we ate, we prayed, I walked them around, showed them all the stuff, told them how God had blessed us. I didn't point out all the differences. I didn't walk up to anybody and go, you know you're really wrong about that one thing.
No, we hosted all these pastors and it was really beautiful. Now in the community of faith, the bridge, this body, we should believe a lot of the same things, much more so than that group of pastors. Now I'm not saying we need to agree on everything because we won't. We won't. And if you're spending your time and your wheels right now trying to find a church where you agree on everything they do, you will never find it.
You'll never find it. And in the meanwhile you'll miss some really good churches. See because if you agreed on everything that a church did, you miss an opportunity to walk in grace and love, don't you? If you're married, what if your spouse was just like you and you all agreed on everything? Don't tell me you do.
Don't even. Somebody, yeah we do, don't we honey? We agree on everything. When two people agree on everything, one of them's a liar. So then we walk in grace towards that that we don't agree. But in the local community of faith, you want to agree on the big ones, I believe.
And I think in this place it's really easy to believe the same on the big ones. That this Bible is the word of God. That Jesus is who he said he is.
That he does offer the way to heaven, the way to heaven. You know and a lot of the other stuff, man, we can just agree to disagree. But we love to argue.
I mean to an unhealthy level. Be careful of that. So we're talking about the body and all members of that one body. And so we're looking in the sense of being one. Different gifts, different beliefs even. I'm talking about believe the same on the main things. We talk about the Lord's Prayer. Most of us grow up thinking of the Lord's Prayer you know is that that's given in Matthew. But if you really want to see the Lord's Prayer, you go to John 17. Because that's when Jesus pulled the disciples to the side. And in the last few hours of his life, praise. And that prayer is extremely interesting. What does he pray for the most?
I'd encourage you to read that whole chapter but let me give you a few verses. John 17 verse 20 says, I do not pray for these alone but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That's us. That they all may be one. As you Father are in me and I in you that they also may be one in us.
May be one. There's a phrase again. That the world may believe that you sent me and the glory which you gave me I have given them that they may be one. Just as we are one. I in them and you in me that they may be made perfect in one.
And that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Jesus over and over in this prayer says that they might be one. Not that we might be all the same but that in our uniqueness and our differences that we might be one.
He says that over and over. And this is part of maturing and growing as a Christian is becoming one. When you first come to Jesus and you ask him to forgive you of your sins, this concept's not there yet. Your sins are forgiven. You're like, oh praise God. And then you know almost everybody's ministry right after they get saved is to tell everybody else how messed up they are.
Very zealous, not so much wisdom. And then over time God says okay maturing now is walking the road for a long time with the same people being one. It's the test in a relationship. The test in a relationship is not when things are going well.
If you're married you know that. It's when things get tough. It's when there's differences, disagreements.
Why? Because then one person has to unselfishly say, you know what, we'll do it your way. Or you get into that moment where somebody messes up and what do you do? What I've seen beautifully demonstrated in this place and I'm not talking about through me. I'm talking about through our elders, through our deacons, through the leaders and through the people of this church. I've seen people mess up and I've seen people in this body love them.
Now if you're all religious, you're going well that's not right. Need to tell them how messed up they are. Well if that's what you think you need when you mess up, you come to us and we'll do that for you. But generally what we need in that moment of defeat is somebody to say hey get up. Come on man. Let's get back in the race.
Dust your knees off. Exhibiting mercy and exhibiting grace. And that's a powerful statement of unity.
And why is that so important? Jesus told us they, the world, is watching. They're watching to see how we treat one another.
And sometimes they look at how we treat one another and they go I don't need any of that. Jesus said the way we love one another, the way that we walk in unity, the way that we're one, that should be contagious. That should be appealing to people who don't know Jesus who aren't in the church. And again I believe, I've seen that modeled in this place to be honest.
Like I've never seen it exhibited in any other church. And again I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about the people that go there. I've seen people go through some tough stuff. I've seen some people mess up royally. And I've seen this body wrap our arms around them and say hey it'll be okay.
Now of course occasionally somebody's like well I just want to keep on doing this and it's like. And you love them in a little different way. But Jesus said when you do this the world is going to recognize that you're different. Why? Because that's not the way the world operates.
Now here's the flip side. If we don't do this, what's the cost? If you and I or people in this community of faith right here don't walk in unity, what is the expense? What is the cost of that? Is it just some uncomfortableness?
Is it just some bad feelings or emotions? No. It's much more than that. You see if us being one draws people who don't know Jesus into the kingdom then us not being one will not draw them into the kingdom. That's too expensive. That is too expensive for our petty personal preferences to be the cost. Here's the life lesson. When the church does not walk in unity it costs us the souls of men and women who do not know Jesus.
That is too high of a cost to pay. You're listening to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. We'll return to the teaching in just a moment. But first we have a brand new DVD that we would love to send to you. It's called One Book, One Message. In this powerful DVD David sweeps through the entire Bible to help you understand the main message of all of scripture.
Once you grasp this amazing truth you will never look at the Bible the same way again. One Book, One Message is our gift to you today when you call with a gift of any amount across the bridge. Your gift helps keep us on the air encouraging you and others so call today. The number is 877-458-5508.
That's 877-458-5508 or go online to crossthebridge.com. Friend, do you have a heart for the lost? I invite you to send us the first names of your lost loved ones and we will have hundreds of people praying for them. Just go to crossthebridge.com and click on the prayer button and you'll enter their name and if you put your name and email address in there I'll send you free resources to equip you to pray and teach you how to reach your lost loved ones.
Please don't wait this is so important. So please again go to crossthebridge.com and click on the prayer button and send us the first names of lost loved ones. We'll send you some free information and together we can partner to deliver the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world.
The whole book for the whole world. Now let's return to our study. I've traveled all over the place and I've been in over 400 churches. I've seen all sorts of stuff done in churches and some of the stuff I saw was like wow that is cool I gotta remember to do that.
I think that works well and then some stuff to be honest I was like you know we're gonna do that. I remember one time they and I have nothing against passing a plate I believe in giving I know churches pass a plate you know I really I struggle when they pass it more than once in the same service. We had somebody that went here for a while and then they moved away and they got married and he wrote back and he said man I just so appreciate the difference because I was sitting in a church and they actually passed the offering plate six times in a service. But in this one church they put a plate up there and they said if anybody has a dollar that they want to give today come on up. So a few people came up and put their dollar in there and then yeah if anybody's got a five come on up put your five in there. Anybody's got a ten come on up put your ten in there and then twenty and then one hundred dollars. So next week no I'm kidding I'm kidding no I sat there and watched it and I gotta tell you I'm a little bit cynical because I sat there and I thought that guy that danced down the aisle with the hundred that he put probably a dollar bill in there man.
Praise God look over there okay put my hundred in there. So I saw some things that I didn't think worked and I saw some things that I thought really glorified God. Saw all sorts of different things but that was the church big C and again here in this local body there's a lot of differences in here and there. Do you understand that's one of the things that really speaks volumes that this thing is of God because you can you can look through here and some people are you know pretty reserved conservative maybe we wear suits and stuff that's awesome.
Same service there's people with all sorts of piercings and tats that's awesome. You got people that were raised in you know good church going families and you've got people coming out of families that were extremely dysfunctional never went to church and when you see that kind of thing going on you know it's God when you see all sorts of races and nationalities worshiping together and loving each other that's a beautiful rainbow kaleidoscope and you know God is at work. Amen. So there's difference but there's togetherness there's togetherness because of that there's people that I would call to be honest there's people in this fellowship if I was if I was in trouble or had a problem I would call them before I would call people in my own family. Now you can sit there go that's pretty tragic no you know what I think that's part of the beauty of the body of Christ and we need to be connected you need to be connected. I don't mean just okay well I kind of go here no I mean seriously connected because friend life doesn't go like your planet and at some point you're gonna have a curveball thrown at you and if you have developed relationships in this place and you've taken the time to develop relationships in this place that's gonna be a bridge that holds the stress but if in that moment all of a sudden you're scrambled to have friends and to make friends you're gonna be in a bad place. See we're supposed to be doing this coming together.
If my hand if my finger if it if it comes out of joint we call that dislocated that's unnatural that's a bad thing. So there's this connection that we're supposed to have that God wants us to have that you need to have that I need to have. Well sometimes it's a little scary I understand that I understand maybe you feel well you know people get to know me they won't like me and you know what honestly you're right some of them won't but that's okay because some will. Somebody told me one time you know I did think about churches I've met some of the worst people in my life in church and instead of arguing with us you know what you're right I've also met some of the best people in my life in church.
Some of the best friends that I'll ever have. So this body now how do you become one with us? Well four real easy steps really. First of all attend because there is something about physically getting together with the body of Christ. So what's the next thing? Well the next thing is to give.
Why is that important? Because it really shows that you're a part of what's going on where your treasure is so is your heart and what I noticed early on back when I used to really as part of the record-keeping I'm not any more I noticed that if somebody could be giving and then they quit giving and one of two things was happening either they were going through a financial hard time or they had an argument or a difference with the church and I noticed that and I thought well that's that's interesting. Next thing is to serve. To serve. To come, to give, to serve. Because something happens when you serve along somebody it just it can't happen in any other circumstance. When you serve with somebody and so many people we had over 800 people that helped us in the construction and moving in and relationships were built during that season during that time that will last forever.
It will last forever. So as you serve you have a single purpose. There's a oneness there and I gang when I talk about sir I'm not talking about you being here 50, 60 hours a week.
I'm talking about an hour or two a week. Maybe more, maybe less and then the fourth way and this is an important part is a small group. That's how you really get to know people and if you're not in a small group you need to get in a small group because there's something that happens in that group that simply friend can't happen in here.
Well I just don't know I just I don't know I don't know if I have the time. The storms are gonna come at some point make the time because I've seen small group after small group be such a vessel of ministry when somebody hit a storm that to be honest the pastors weren't even aware of what's going on until the small group says oh yeah yeah you know they went through this and he lost his job but we took care of him. That's a beautiful thing. So it's taken a little bit of time but if you do those four things you'll have a sense of oneness of unity. You'll have a place where you fit you belong where everybody knows your name kind of thing and it'll be worth it.
Huge blessings being the body. What if I get in there and people figure out I've got problems? You don't think anybody thinks you have problems? Seriously you think you're that good at hiding your problems? We all have problems and you know what that that's okay that's all right.
If you ever see somebody that keeps pointing out other people's problems get away from them because they've got some deep stuff they're not wanting to deal with and their way of not dealing with their problems is pointing out what's wrong with other people. We've all got problems but see there's this thing called grace. What is grace? Grace is God's unmerited favor. When we ask God to forgive us we don't we don't earn that.
We don't deserve that but he wants to give it to us. Guess what? In our relationships with one another when you mess up I will forgive you. What if I really mess up? I will forgive you. Let me tell you something you can be so hateful to me you could spit in my face and I can say to you right now I will forgive you.
How do I know that? Because it's been done and I did and that's not because I'm a good guy it's because God's got a hold of my heart and I'm aware of what I've done to him and he forgave me and so in that I'm willing to forgive you. Amen.
That's the way it's supposed to work. This all comes together. Romans 12 verse 6 says having them gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us let us use them. We've been given gifts. We've been given grace. Let us walk in grace. Let us use the gifts.
First Corinthians 12 6 says God works in different ways but it's the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. So we can help each other. Aren't we supposed to be telling each other how messed up we are and what's wrong with you and you tell what's wrong with me? No. Supposed to help each other. Friend do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?
You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.
Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus name.
Amen. Friend if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible you've been forgiven you've been born again. Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him and he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness those who were sick not the righteous.
So congratulations friend you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time we would love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our first steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. If you've been encouraged by this ministry contact us today. Your prayers and financial support help keep us on the air encouraging you and others. Call today and we'll send you a copy of Pastor David's brand new DVD entitled One Book One Message.
You'll be blessed by this overview of the Bible and it will forever change how you read the scriptures. To get your copy call 877-458-5508 that's 877-458-5508 or visit us online at crossthebridge.com. While there make sure to sign up for the free email devotional. Also if you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday why not join us for our live stream at 9 and 1130 Eastern. Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There you can watch Pastor David teach from his home church The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Again that website is crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening. We hope you'll join us next time as we continue to cross the bridge.
