Now maybe you're thinking, well, I'm a little different. I'm not sure I belong here. No, you are a little different. That's why you belong here. Amen.
We're never going to be one of those churches that says, okay, well, if you're going to be a Christian, here's what you got to do. You got to look like this. You got to wear this and you got to act like this. Exactly.
We're all different. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Christian unity is vital to the church, but Christian unity doesn't mean we're all the same. Find out more about this 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 will 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, Listen to Your Body Talk. So 1st Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13, it says, for by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free and have all been made to drink into one spirit. Verse 14 says, for in fact, the body is not one member, but many. The body is not one member, but many. Actually, there's one translation says, for in fact, the body is not just one denomination, but many.
In the New Living Translation, it says, yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. We need to understand that not any one group has a monopoly on the truth and it can be very dangerous when you belong to a group, you start, well, we're the only ones that have it right. Everybody else, man, they're like totally messed up. I was reading one magazine and this guy did like a seven part series on what was wrong with another guy.
Oh man, you should do a seven part series on the love of God. See, but there's that danger in all of us in there. Any group that's ever been formed, that is a, it's a threat.
It's a threat to begin to think, well, we're the only ones that have it right. Heaven is going to be filled with those experiences of, well, you know, it happened, Nora and I years ago visited church and somebody came up after the service and said, what are y'all doing here? Thank you. We really feel welcomed. Heaven's going to be like that.
Do you understand that? You're going to be walking around heaven going, what are you doing here? I know there's going to be hundreds of people coming up to me doing that. How'd you get in here? Grace of God, same way everybody did, but we like to talk about what we disagree about, what's wrong with other people.
I just, I don't want to do that. You know, at times in, in the ministry in the past, you know, it's kind of falling into that. I really want to guard against that because as God continues to open doors for this ministry, I don't want to shut the opportunity to, to minister to people. Now I'm not talking about sacrificing the truth. I'm not talking about watering anything down. I'm just talking about, you know, let's don't condemn those who God has pardoned.
Amen. So I talked about parts of the body and of course the human body is very interesting. I mean, there's parts of the human body that you can't see that are very, very important. You can't, you can't see lungs. Well, I mean, if all's going well, you can't see, you can't see lungs, but lungs are very important.
You can't survive without lungs. It's a part of the body. The body is made up of two types of muscles, voluntary and involuntary. Now, voluntary muscles are those that you control. In other words, your brain says to your hand, reach out and get that cup of tea, you know, and pull it to your mouth and now sip it. Those are all voluntary muscles.
Okay. Then you have involuntary muscles. Those are the muscles that you don't control.
They, they work automatically, if you will. Now what's really interesting in the way God created the body is the really important muscles are the ones that he decided to keep control of. Your heartbeat and your breathing. And I know if he didn't do it for anybody else, he did it for me because I would forget to breathe.
I'd be up here talking and sorry, forgot to breathe. And you know what? Isn't that like life? God's got the important stuff.
He'll take care of it. Life, death, all this stuff. God's got it.
God's got it. So we all have different gifts. We're not the same.
Do you realize that? A lot of frustrations in life are because we think we want other people to be like we are. No, you don't.
Let me promise you, you don't. Do you know who the most irritating people you will ever meet in your life are the people that are like you. And the part of them that's like you is the part that will irritate you. You don't want everybody else. Like it's a nightmare of mine that I would pastor a flock of David McGee's. I would not want to do that. I would be emailing myself every Sunday.
Surely you didn't mean to say that. So praise God for the diversity and the difference in this body, in this church. We all have things to do.
Gifts of serving, gifts of giving, gifts of praying, in assessor prayer. We have something to do. We have a a high and lofty goal in this place to change the world.
And it takes all of us to really to do that. Jesus in John 14, 12 said, most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these, he will do because I go to my father. Jesus turned to his levels and said, don't be impressed by what I'm doing.
You're going to do even greater things. Now, of course, our mind immediately spins towards what we're going to raise the dead. The greater works, I believe that Jesus was talking about until Jesus died on the cross, people could not be born again or forgiven or saved. So Jesus fed thousands of people, spoke to thousands of people, but after he had died on the cross, was resurrected and then ascended to heaven, Peter spoke and thousands of people were born again. That did not happen in the earthly ministry of Jesus. That's what I believe, in part, the greater works are. And what an incredible thing that we get to engage in those greater works. Now, please understand, we couldn't do the greater works if Jesus hadn't died for our sins, but because he's died for our sins, now we can tell other people and other people can get saved.
And when we talk about the gifts, our place in the body, Romans chapter 12, verse 9 says that don't just pretend to love others. You know what, if you're a note taker, jot this reference down. And if you're not a note taker, go ahead and start.
Go ahead and start. And jot this. If you wanna know more about the Bible, if you want more help in your spiritual life, begin to take notes. Because when you're in here, well, let me go over. First of all, almost all the time when I pray, I have a piece of paper and a pen.
You know why? Because when I pray, I expect God to talk. Now, if I don't have a piece of paper or pen, what does that say to God? Well, even if you talk, I'm not gonna write it down. So let me encourage you when you're in here, because how often in the service God might speak something to you, and you go, oh, man, that's definitely for me.
And then the busyness of life and stuff, maybe you don't remember it like you should. And there's something, and experts will tell you that there's something very special in writing things down. So this is an important verse. Romans 12, 9 says, don't just pretend to love others, really love them. Hate what is wrong, hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope, be patient and troubled, and keep on praying. When God's people are in need, be ready to help them.
Always be eager to practice hospitality. That is a great passage, isn't it? I mean, that just gives you, that is what church is supposed to look like right there. And if you ever think that you've arrived, just read that passage again and go, I'm not sure I'm doing that one. Earlier in this chapter, we came across the passage that said, God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can brag about it. Oh, is that not what it says? Oh, so we can help each other.
Oh, sorry. We're given gifts so we can help each other. You have gifts that will help other people, that will be a blessing to them. And here's the awesome thing, because you're using your gifts, you will be blessed.
But if you don't use your gifts, you'll be frustrated, you'll be upset, you'll lack peace, you really will be developing selfishness. We've talked about it before that if you look at a bird feeder and you don't keep it cleansed, the water comes into the bird feeder and just sits there. What happens over time is it gets green and slimy and stinky and nasty. But then you go look at a stream where water comes in, water goes out.
What kind of Christian do you want to be? With the clear water, water flowing in, water flowing out, giftings and blessings flowing into your life, giftings and blessings flowing out of your life, you'll be like that stream. But if it's always just, oh, let me soak it in, then you're going to be like that birdbath, stinky, slimy, nasty.
I don't think anybody listening is going, oh, I want to be like that. So we use our gifts to bless each other. And God works not only in different ways in each of us, but he works in different speeds, doesn't he? See, God will deal with you about an issue and you will grow in that area of your life. But maybe the person beside you or the person in your family or the person in your house, well, maybe God spoke to them about something different and they're growing in that area. But see, you look at them and you go, well, you're not growing in the same area I am. Right, it's a different area. But oftentimes we think, well, we need to all be growing in the same area at the same time.
That's not going to happen. And this is part of growing, part of coming together. You know, as a Christian, you can't, I don't know if you can really grow by yourself. Part of growing as a believer is coming together with other people. It's part of how we grow. And we disagree with people and we love them anyway. And we get our feelings hurt and we love people anyway. And we forgive people for what they do and we grow. I've heard people say, well, if only I could be by myself on a desert island, I'd actually really be a good Christian. Really be a good Christian. No, you wouldn't. You would have all your problems right there with you. I don't know if you've ever heard that joke.
I think it's funny. They rescue this guy from a desert island and he's got three buildings on the island. And one of them is his house, you know, and the guys who are rescuing him say, well, you know, that's your house. What's that building? He said, well, that's my church. And they said, well, what's the third building? He said, that's the church I used to go to.
I left there, got upset. And if you think that being without people and without company is such an awesome thing, why is one of the most severe form of punishment solitary confinement? See, I think we don't even recognize the blessing that it is to dwell with one another, to be in unity with one another. Man, when we get together, like today, when we're worshiping God together, singing together, there's nothing like that. And do you realize that when we're in here worshiping God and we're having a great time and we're filled with joy, do you know what happens when somebody who's not yet made a decision for Jesus walks into that atmosphere?
They look around, they're like, I'm missing something. I don't have something that these people have. I want it. So there's this beauty in this fellowship that God talks about, don't worry, how blessed it is when we walk in unity. So of course, if we're walking together, working together, God is blessing, God is moving. The enemy doesn't want that. So what's the opposite of unity? Division.
Division. Romans 12, 6, the first part of it says, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. Use your gifts. Pastor David, are you really saying I can change my life by helping out in children's ministry? Absolutely.
Absolutely. Use your gifts. 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.
Good. Verse 15. If the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? So there's two, there's two thoughts and, and you got to, there's the worldwide church, if you will, big C church, that is every person who believes in Jesus as their savior worldwide, that's the body of Christ.
And then also there's a reference in scripture that, you know, this church or any local church is also the body of Christ. So here in this place, you know, maybe you're thinking, well, I'm a little different. I'm not sure I belong here. No, you are a little different.
That's why you belong here. Amen. Praise God. See, cause I don't ever, we're never going to be one of those churches that says, okay, well, if you're going to be a Christian, here's what you got to, you got to look like this.
You got to wear this and you got to act like this. Exactly. We're all different. And churches are all different too gang. We're a particular style slash kind of church.
It's not going to appeal to everybody. I'm okay with that. What I'm not going to do is every time somebody comes in, well, I think y'all to do church like, okay, we'll do that for a week. And somebody, well, I think y'all do okay. Well, we'll do it like that. Well, I think you're okay. Well, I'll do it like, you can't do church like that.
Do you know, this may shock you. I, if you go on my iPhone, I've got all sorts of, all sorts of music, classical music, Brahms. I actually studied classical music, played classical music for years. I love, I used to go to pipe organ recitals and stuff like that.
I love that style of music. And you know, as the church was kind of growing, I, to be honest, I, I wanted the music to go a little lighter. I was praying.
I said, no, got that covered. There's lots of churches in town that got light covered. There's lots of churches and they got pipe organ covered. As a matter of fact, we even did for a season, we did this thing called Heartlight when it, and it was more acoustic, much more laid back and all those people that were complaining that the other music was too loud, didn't show up.
So we said, well, I ain't gonna do that anymore. That's not to say that this music is the only way to worship God. It does say in the Bible that you should worship him with a loud noise. You should worship when the cymbal and the drums, but I'm not saying that, you know, every church that's not loud and doesn't have drums is bad. It's just different, different way to worship.
So we're all different. And then let's go back to the church. Again, the two analogies, the big church, big C, and then this church. This fellowship, the bridge takes hundreds of people to do what we do here on Sunday morning from the parking lot ministry, the attendance, to the media ministry, to children's ministries, to the worship team, to all these things come together. I tell staff and volunteers often, you know, are all these ministries important?
Absolutely. Because we want to have an environment and an atmosphere that when you invite a loved one, a family member, a friend, a family member, a friend, maybe somebody who doesn't know Jesus, you're just hoping everything goes well. And it is important that the moment they pull up that they have a space and then they're greeted. Why? Because that's really important.
And when they come in, we've got people to talk to them, to show them around. Why? Because that's important. Because what we've realized that if that goes wrong before they get in here, I don't even get up to bat because they'll be sitting in here going, I can't, that guy was so hateful.
I can't, and why, what was up with that? And I'm up here sharing the gospel. I just can't believe that God did that. You know, the average person decides within 11 seconds of walking in a church, whether they're coming back or not, they haven't heard music. They've heard the teaching. They've seen the parking lot folks and the greeters.
It's the body coming together, working together. And what happens, and I've seen this historically, you know, people, they start to want to do their thing, their own thing. And obviously as the senior pastor, I'm responsible for the vision and casting the vision and make sure we're going in the same direction. And we've had people in the past say, well, I want to go in this direction.
Well, God bless you. We're not going in that direction. Maybe God's calling you to do something else somewhere else because the body can't work like that. As a matter of fact, if your human body, a part of, if one part of your human body wants to start doing its own thing, using up all the resources around it and, and grow, you know, and, and doing stuff opposed to the rest of your body, you know, we call it, we call it cancer.
So it's important for the body to be unified. And for you to understand, for you not to sit there and go, well, I'm a little different. I'm not sure I belong. You are different. And that's why you belong. You know, if you're in here and you like wearing suits, praise God, please keep wearing suits. Why? Because somebody else that shows up in a suit will look at you and go, okay, somebody else in a suit's here.
It's okay. Well, they'll probably look at you and go, I must be the pastor. If you got tattoos, don't feel out of place. A bunch of people got ink here. As a matter of fact, when somebody else shows up that has tattoos, they're gonna look and go, okay, cool.
I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm welcomed here. Or piercings or whatever. Because we come together and it's this beautiful tapestry, rainbow, kaleidoscope of the body of Christ. Verse 16 says, and if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I am not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? The foot is obviously different than the hand. If you're taking notes, jot that down. But I mean, you know, I could learn to walk on my hands, but why?
My feet do it much better. And then this verse talks about the eye and the ear are different. And there's room for that. There's diversity in animal life.
There's so much diversity in the plant kingdom. And there's diversity in the body of Christ. Life lesson here is Christian unity does not mean uniformity or sameness. Christian unity does not mean uniformity or sameness.
And let's understand that, you know, if you take a body part off, if I pull out my tongue and sit it on the table, it's not going to survive very long. If you're not part of the body of Christ, it is going to be really hard to survive spiritually. 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. 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. 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.
